Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/174087 
Year of Publication: 
2017
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 11177
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This article examines the hypothesis that having daughters polarises male politicians' attitudes toward abortion rights. Using French and U.S voting records, I estimate that having daughters decreases support for abortion law by 25% for right-wing congressmen in France, and increases support for Democrats by 12%. I find similar behavioural patterns for voters using electoral surveys. Robustness checks confirm that this result is not an artefact of family stopping rules. I rationalise these findings in a model predicting that fathers with paternalistic preferences adopt a more polarised political position on abortion when they have a daughter rather than a son.
Subjects: 
voting
polarisation
gender
political behaviour
attitudes
abortion
JEL: 
D72
D83
J16
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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