Answer to Question 1
First, given the modern gender gap in wealthy societies, female legislators tend to be more liberal than their male counterparts. This turns out to be the case even within political parties, meaning not only that liberal or leftwing parties tend to elect more women legislators than do conservative or rightwing parties, but that women in both liberal and conservative parties tend to be more liberal than the average male member of that party.
Second, women legislators tend to have different policy priorities from men.
In particular, they are more likely to see themselves specifically as representatives of women and women's interests, while men are unlikely to see themselves as representatives of only men. Women around the world also tend to focus more on issues related to women's rights, children, and familylaw policy, and express less interest in budget, tax, and business issues.
Finally, the presence of greater numbers of women in political leadership positions tends to change the perceptions of women and discourse about women.
A lack of women in positions of power tends to perpetuate gender stereotypes.
Answer to Question 2
In the United States, the wage gap between men and womenthe difference between what a man and a woman earn for doing the same exact jobis almost entirely a function of whether a woman has children: childless women earn just about as much as their male counterparts, while women who have children earn less than
75 percent of what an otherwisesimilar man does. Given this, in the United
Statesbut to a lesser extent elsewhere, partly due to variation in government support for working parentsa nuclear family in which both parents work suffers a wage penaltymeaning that the men, women, and children in such families pay a financial price over the long run.
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