YALE DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
WORKING PAPER NO. 15

FEMALE SOCIALIZATION:
HOW DAUGHTERS AFFECT THEIR LEGISLATOR
FATHERS' VOTING ON WOMEN'S ISSUES

Ebonya Washington

May 2006
Revised May 2007

Parenting daughters, sociologists have shown, increases feminist sympathies. I test the hypothesis that children, much like neighbors or peers, can influence parental behavior. I demonstrate that conditional on total number of children, each daughter increases a congress person’s propensity to vote liberally, particularly on reproductive rights issues. The results identify an important (and previously omitted) explanatory variable in the literature on congressional decision making. Additionally the paper highlights the relevance of child to parent behavioral influence.

Keywords: Political economy, Legislator behavior, Gender

JEL Classification: H0, J16, D72