Is Women’s Political Empowerment Affecting COVID-19 Mortality?

Much of the research on the ongoing pandemic has focused on the health and economic policies required to slow the spread of the disease and minimize its impact on the economy. The focus of this study is the political factors that influence policy-making. Specifically, we examine whether there is an association between women's political empowerment and COVID-19 mortality. We use data for 168 countries, ordinary least squares regressions, and an instrumental variables approach to assess this relationship. Our results show that political equality by gender and participation by women in civil society associations are negatively associated with cumulative COVID-19 deaths.