Women’s Suffrage, Political
Responsiveness and Child Survival
in American History
Political Economics
Prof. Gani Aldashev
Academic Year: 2016/2017
Université de Namur
Presented by:
Brenna Clara
Rizanaj Brunilda
Rossi Giulia
Agenda 1/3
1
Introduction
Background:
Historical Advancement of American Women
Women´s suffrage movement and laws
Children´s Bureau & Work of Sheppard-Towner nurses
Women's Suffrage Political Responsiveness And Child Survival In American History
Introduction
2
Women´s role important for child welfare & provision of public goods
Promotion of household hygiene:
• Campaigns, charitable organizations, government
Extension of suffrage rights to women:
• Children benefit from scientific knowledge about disease
Women's Suffrage Political Responsiveness And Child Survival In American History
Introduction - Extension of voting rights to women
3
Voting behavior of legislators:
• Shifts in electoral preferences
• “Electoral competition”
• Roll call voting
Definition of roll call voting:
• A way of voting that exist in the U.S. parliament.
• The names of those voting for or against a motion will be recorded.
Women's Suffrage Political Responsiveness And Child Survival In American History
Introduction - Sheppard–Towner Act (1921)
4
For maternity and child care
Pressure to vote the act:
• From the Women's Joint Congressional Committee
John M. Sheppard
Horace M. Towner
Congress passed the Act!
• “… fear of being punished at the polls”
“Politicians feared that women voters would cast
a bloc vote if their convictions about child welfare
were not heeded.”
Women's Suffrage Political Responsiveness And Child Survival In American History
Background- The Advancement of Women
5
Industrialization 19th century:
• Segregation between American men and women
• Social and economic “spheres”
Women:
• Voluntary organizations for the good of society
• “Municipal housekeeping”:
“Woman’s place is in the home...But Home is not contained within the four walls of an
individual home. Home is the community. The city full of people is the Family”.
New child health and hygiene agenda
Women's Suffrage Political Responsiveness And Child Survival In American History
Background – Women´s suffrage movement
6
Extension of women´s right before 1920:
• 29 states
Other 19 states:
• 7 approved the Amendment in 1920
• 12 did not approve it
Why did women in western states vote before 1920?
• “Women were pro restrictions on common western vices”
• Frontier life: impossible to maintain traditional gender roles
Women's Suffrage Political Responsiveness And Child Survival In American History
Background – Children´s Bureau
7
Local milk station give to mothers pure milk for the infants
Federal Children’s Bureau:
• Useless to send pure milk into a dirty home
• Popular education
• Reach parents and citizens
• Inform them about life-saving qualities
• Convince them of the necessity of cleanliness
Example: Nurses in each district
Women's Suffrage Political Responsiveness And Child Survival In American History
Work of the Sheppard - Towner Nurses
8
• Nurses sent to initiate maternity & infancy program
• Home visits was the most important work of chid hygiene nurse
• Intensive education about hygienic practices
• “Ideology of instructed motherhood”
• Benefits of good hygiene were demonstrated
• Mothers: more responsible for the hygiene
Women's Suffrage Political Responsiveness And Child Survival In American History
Agenda 2/3
9
General features
Setting the model
Descriptive statistics
Introduction of the model
The equation
Women's Suffrage Political Responsiveness And Child Survival In American History
Data - General Features
10
Sources’ data:
• Lott and Kenny (1999)
• Marie Cornwall (2003)
Lerry Kenny
John R. Lott
Marie Cornwall
No distinction between partial and full suffrage rights:
• The flux of electoral rules during this period
• Uncertainty among politicians about the inevitability of full enfranchisement
following partial suffrage laws
Sensitivity analyses presented suggest that drawing this distinction does
not substantially alter the conclusions drawn from this paper’s analyses
Women's Suffrage Political Responsiveness And Child Survival In American History
Data - Setting The Model (1/2)
11
To evaluate how women’s suffrage was related to child survival three type of
data are needed:
1. State-level mortality by age
2. State-level mortality by sex
3. State-level mortality by cause
Problem: no national system of death records in the US before 1933
Women's Suffrage Political Responsiveness And Child Survival In American History
Data – Setting The Model
12
The Bureau of the Census first
established an official “Death
Registration Area” in 1880
In 1900 it began publishing its
annual Mortality Statistics for
death registration states
The Timing Of Death Registration Area Entry In American States
Women's Suffrage Political Responsiveness And Child Survival In American History
Data - Descriptive Statistics (1/6)
13
The published historical series available are used to built unbalanced panel
of:
• Annual state-level deaths by age/sex for the years 1900–1936
• Annual state-level deaths by cause for the years 1900–1936
To explore how women’s suffrage was related to the size and composition
of public spending are evaluated:
• The nominal annual city government spending
• The real annual state government spending and revenue per capita
Women's Suffrage Political Responsiveness And Child Survival In American History
Data - Descriptive Statistics A (2/6)
14
Age-specific annual mortality rate per 1,000 in each age interval
DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS
1900
1910
1920
1930
CHANGES IN THE DEATH RATE
Mean
Mean
Mean
Mean
(standard (standard (standard (standard
deviation) deviation) deviation) deviation)
Under age
1
Age 1–4
Age 5–9
Age 10–14
Age 15–19
163,49
119,89
95,10
70,82
(31,42)
(37,38)
(16,92)
(18,64)
18,78
11,89
9,28
5,83
(4,82)
(3,79)
(1,78)
(2,17)
4,49
3,29
2,84
1,92
(0,76)
(0.76)
(0,37)
(0,39)
2,98
2,36
2,34
1,62
(0,26)
(0,54)
(0,27)
(0,33)
4,96
3,68
4,13
2,95
1900-1910 1910-1920
Under age 1
Age 1–4
Age 5–9
Age 10–14
Age 15–19
1920-1930
Delta
Mean
Delta
Mean
Delta
Mean
43,60
6,89
1,20
0,62
1,28
24,79
2,61
0,45
0,02
-0,45
24,28
3,45
0,92
0,72
1,18
Women's Suffrage Political Responsiveness And Child Survival In American History
Data - Descriptive Statistics B (3/6)
15
Cause-specific annual mortality rate per 1,000 total population
CAUSES OF DEATH LIKELY AFFECTED
1900
1910
1920
1930
Mean
Mean
Mean
Mean
(standard (standard (standard (standard
deviation) deviation) deviation) deviation)
Typhoid
fever
Diphtheria
Diarrhea
under age 2
0,30
0,24
0,09
0,06
(0,09)
(0,11)
(0,05)
(0,05)
0,35
0,18
0,13
0,05
(0,13)
(0,07)
(0,05)
(0,03)
1,14
0,83
0,41
0,23
(0,35)
(0,36)
(0,16)
(0,19)
CAUSES OF DEATH UNLIKELY AFFECTED
Cancer
Accidents
and violence
1900
1910
1920
1930
Mean
(standard
deviation)
Mean
(standard
deviation)
Mean
(standard
deviation)
Mean
(standard
deviation)
0,69
0,72
0,81
0,91
(0,13)
(0,24)
(0,25)
(0,30)
0,74
0,87
0,78
0,92
(0,14)
(0,29)
(0,12)
(0,17)
Women's Suffrage Political Responsiveness And Child Survival In American History
Data - Descriptive Statistics C (4/6)
16
Nominal annual city government spending for 1,000 total population
Total cost payments
MUNICIPAL EXPENSE
MUNICIPAL EXPENDITURE
1900
1910
1920
1930
Mean
Mean
Mean
Mean
(standard (standard (standard (standard
deviation) deviation) deviation) deviation)
1900
1910
1920
1930
Mean
Mean
Mean
Mean
(standard (standard (standard (standard
deviation) deviation) deviation) deviation)
N/A
$2.441
N/A
($9.547)
Charities, hospitals, and correction
costs payment
N/A
$176
N/A
$241
($982)
Total outlays
N/A
($27.100)
N/A
($819)
Health conservation and sanitation
costs payment
$6.812
$509
$657
($3.056)
N/A
($5.923)
Charities, hospitals, and
corrections outlays
N/A
($2.215)
N/A
$1.535
$108
($12.300)
N/A
($318)
Health conservation and sanitation
outlays
N/A
$158
($366)
$3.594
$213
($610)
N/A
$432
($1.383)
Women's Suffrage Political Responsiveness And Child Survival In American History
Data - Descriptive Statistics D (5/6)
17
Real annual state government spending and revenue per capita
GOVERNAMENT SPENDING
1900
1910
1920
1930
Mean
Mean
Mean
Mean
(standard (standard (standard (standard
deviation) deviation) deviation) deviation)
Total spending
Transportation
spending
Education
spending
Social services
spending
$14,94
$18,05
($8,12)
($7,30)
$0,88
$2,61
($0,70)
($3,38)
$2,46
$5,63
($1,06)
($3,12)
$2,23
$2,42
($0,96)
($1,22)
N/A
GOVERNAMENT REVENUE
1900
$43,99
$18,67
($9,22)
N/A
$10,79
($7,10)
N/A
1920
1930
Mean
Mean
Mean
Mean
(standard (standard (standard (standard
deviation) deviation) deviation) deviation)
($15,78)
N/A
1910
Total
revenue
Property tax
revenue
$16,51
$17,79
($7,05)
($7,69)
$3,51
$9,18
($1,07)
($10,23)
N/A
$43,36
($20,06)
N/A
$8,91
($6,94)
$3,68
($1,40)
Women's Suffrage Political Responsiveness And Child Survival In American History
Data - Descriptive Statistics (6/6)
18
The analysis are conduct through the usage of an unbalanced set of data
 Unbalanced panel: it is a panel in which one or more waves of data are
missing for some respondents.
Conducting analysis with an unbalanced panel raises potential concerns:
• The entry into death registration area was correlated with the timing of
women’s suffrage laws
• The availability of public finance data is correlated with women’s suffrage
The resulting estimates reveal no statistically meaningful associations
Women's Suffrage Political Responsiveness And Child Survival In American History
Empirical Strategy - Introduction
19
The evaluation of the data is done through the exploitation of the rich
spatial and temporal variation in the timing of state-level women’s suffrage
laws after 1900
The method used is a simple difference-in-difference approach to estimate
changes associated with suffrage right, such as:
• Public spending
• Progressive voting among legislators
• Mortality by age/sex and cause of death
Women's Suffrage Political Responsiveness And Child Survival In American History
Empirical Strategy – The Equation
20
t+
Where:
• s = state
• y = year
• d = outcome of interest
• v = whether or not women could legally vote
•
= year fixed effect
•
= state fixed effect
•
t = state specific linear time effect
•
= the parameter of interest
The only exogenous variable
Women's Suffrage Political Responsiveness And Child Survival In American History
Agenda 3/3
21
Results of public spending
Results of vote turn-out and legislative roll call behavior
Results of mortality by age/sex and cause
Validity tests
Women's Suffrage Political Responsiveness And Child Survival In American History
Public spending (1/3)
22
Investigate changes in the size and composition of municipal public spending
related to public health and hygiene
Using the following equation:
t+
Where:
p= municipal public measures
s=states
y=years
Local public finance is measured as a dependent variables
Women's Suffrage Political Responsiveness And Child Survival In American History
Public spending (2/3)
23
Trend:
• Total spending, charities, corrections and
hospital spending, health and sanitation
spending
Timing:
• 5 years before and 5 years after the
suffrage law
Observations:
• No particular trend before the suffrage
• A huge increase coincident with the law
Women's Suffrage Political Responsiveness And Child Survival In American History
Public spending (3/3)
24
Panel A
Woman’s suffrage brings increasing of: 8%
total municipal spending, 6% health
conservation and sanitation spending and a
36% in spending for charities, hospitals and
corrections
Panel B
Increase of social service spending around 21%
Women's Suffrage Political Responsiveness And Child Survival In American History
Voter turn-out & Legislative Roll Call
Behaviour (1/3)
25
The suffrage also influence the legislative
behaviour
The voter turn out increased abruptly with
the enactment of woman’s suffrage laws
Considering partecipation among adults
ages 21 and older
The author makes also a regression that
show how the turn out increased by 44%
when the franchise was extended to woman
Women's Suffrage Political Responsiveness And Child Survival In American History
Voter turn-out & Legislative Roll Call
Behaviour (2/3)
26
Trend:
• The Progressive voting among legislators
in the senate and the house of representatives
Timing:
• 5 years before and 5 years after the
suffrage law
Observations:
• senators Progressive votes
• the House Progressive votes
Women's Suffrage Political Responsiveness And Child Survival In American History
Voter turn-out & Legislative Roll Call
Behaviour (3/3)
27
Parametric estimates of in the equation suggest that women’s suffrage was
associated with a 23% increase in “progressive” voting in the senate.
Women's Suffrage Political Responsiveness And Child Survival In American History
Mortality by Age/Sex and Cause
28
With the following equation:
t+
Where d= age specific deaths
Observations:
mortality reductions for both boys and girls, in particular for children 1< age <19 ,
but not for infants or for adults  20’000 deaths less each year
Women's Suffrage Political Responsiveness And Child Survival In American History
Validity tests
29
Informal validity tests bolster this paper’s findings
1. Relation between previous trend of legislative behavior, public spending, child mortality
and suffrage laws  No correlation
2. Relation between the timing of suffrage laws and the timing of other major Progressive
Era events  No correlation
3. Relation between states choosing to grant suffrage rights to women and states having it
imposed on them by the Nineteenth Amendment  No correlation
4. Changes in “progressive” legislative behavior, public spending, or child mortality should
also be detectable from other women’s rights efforts and not ultimately to the suffrage
law  No correlation
5. Relation between internal migration and suffrage laws  No correlation
6. Relation between changes in the composition of births or fertile age women  No correlation
Women's Suffrage Political Responsiveness And Child Survival In American History
Conclusion (1/2)
30
The arguments of the paper :
Extension of
women rights
Children
well-being
Hygienic practices
Local public
spending &
hygiene campaigns
Prevention of
disease
Fewer deaths
Women's Suffrage Political Responsiveness And Child Survival In American History
Conclusion (2/2)
31
Why are the failures of health education campaign so common in developing
countries?
The contest today is more complicated, in fact:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Health behaviors require large costs in comparison with hygienic behaviors ( i.e.
sexual contact and quitting smoking)
No sanitary reforms
No incentives for prevention
Health education campaigns are labor intensive and difficult to implement
Lower demand for child health
Promote gender equality means increase household demand for beneficial health
technologies
Women's Suffrage Political Responsiveness And Child Survival In American History
Additional Paper: Abstract
32
Women’s suffrage was a major event in the history of democratization in Western Europe
and elsewhere. Public choice theory predicts that the demand for publicly funded social
spending is systematically higher where women have and use the right to vote. Using
historical data from six Western European countries for the period 1869–1960, we provide
evidence that social spending out of GDP increased by 0.6–1.2% in the short-run as a
consequence of women’s suffrage, while the long-run effect is 3 to 8 times larger. We also
explore a number of other public finance implications of the gender gap.
Female voting power: the contribution of women’s suffrage to the growth of social spending in Western Europe (1869–1960)
Toke S. Aidt·Bianca Dallal
Additional Paper: Table 2
33
Records the evolution of social spending out of GDP for the period 1869 - 1960
Pre-1880
1880–1900 1900–1914 1918–1938 1946–1960
Pre-1880
1880–1900 1900–1914 1918–1938 1946–1960
Denmark
0,15
0,59
3,03
3,03
8,19
Denmark
0,31
1,04
1,95
3,72
10,16
Norway
0,27
0,93
1,29
2,22
7,63
Norway
0,68
1,64
2,12
3,61
11,9
Sweden
0,96
1,16
0,93
2,02
6,39
Sweden
1,34
1,57
1,5
3,55
8,88
UK
n.a.
0,72
0,99
5,06
10,02
UK
n.a.
0,82
1,09
5,85
13,35
France
n.a.
n.a.
n.a.
5,02
8,34
France
n.a.
n.a.
n.a.
7,25
14,3
Belgium
n.a.
n.a.
n.a.
4,5
5
Belgium
n.a.
n.a.
n.a.
7,88
8,42
Netherlands
n.a.
n.a.
n.a.
4,13
6,27
Netherlands
n.a.
n.a.
1,75
6,21
10,68
Finland
n.a.
n.a.
n.a.
3,44
4,88
Finland
n.a.
n.a.
n.a.
6,21
7,51
Average
0,42
0,77
1,06
3,56
6,86
Average
1,12
1,75
2,13
5,44
10,52
The narrow definition
The broad definition
spending on health, education public housing, transfers
spending on economic services, transport, communication
Female voting power: the contribution of women’s suffrage to the growth of social spending in Western Europe (1869–1960)
Toke S. Aidt·Bianca Dallal
Thank you for your attention!