Women’s Political Empowerment and Foreign Aid Allocation

• In Event: The Politics of Foreign Aid

Abstract

Do donor states reward recipient states for signaling a commitment to expanding the role of women in political decision making? Previous studies have shown that women’s descriptive representation in political decision making is associated with greater generosity in donor states. This study investigates whether donor states reward and encourage the empowerment of women in political decision making in recipient states through the allocation of their foreign aid.
We develop a theory to explain why donor states should be expected to reward recipient states that make a commitment to women’s empowerment in political decision making and test it using dyadic data on donors’ distribution of foreign aid to recipient states.

Author

• Marijke Breuning, University of North Texas