A recent paper in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics carries an article by Irma Clots-Figueras that claims that the gender of politicians has influence on educational attainment in a district where these politicians are elected. More specifically in urban areas, the probability of completing primary education increases if the elected candidate is a female.

Abstract This paper shows that the gender of politicians affects the educational levels of individuals who grow up in the districts where these politicians are elected. A unique dataset collected on politicians in India is matched with individual data by cohort and district of residence. The political data allow the identification of close elections between women and men, which yield quasi-experimental election outcomes used to estimate the causal effect of the gender of politicians. Increasing female political representation increases the probability that an individual will attain primary education in urban areas, but not in rural areas, and not in the sample as a whole. (JEL D72, I20, J16, 015, 017)