Empowered Women, Healthier Nations? How female political rights impacted public health spending in interwar Europe.

Women’s political empowerment – or ability to participate in the political system – is considered conducive to greater investment in welfare-enhancing public goods, including health. This is because women seem to value these investments more. However, women cannot be considered a homogenous group in terms of their preferences. It is therefore unclear how greater female political empowerment translates into higher welfare investment. This project aims to contribute to this debate by studying the expansion of women’s political rights on public health provisions in interwar Europe across various factors: namely, women’s income class, women’s religious backgrounds, exposure to health information campaigns, and the share of women elected.