Did Female Suffrage bolster Conservative Support? The case of the Spanish Second Republic (1931-1939)

Toni Rodón (UPF)

3rd december, 13:00h, Aula 8 Facultat de Ciències Polítiques i Sociologia de la UAB or Teams (link)
Conventional wisdom has long stated that the relationship between suffrage extension to women and conservative voting is robust and positive, especially in Catholic countries. Indeed, even some prominent left-wing suffragettes argued against the introduction of female suffrage or to postpone it, at least until women were ready to make a “conscious choice” free of family or religious influence. I test this claim in the context of the Spanish Second Republic (1931-1936), in which the majority of actors expected a strong and positive relationship. To do so, I build an original dataset from different archival records and sources from several regions and provinces. By capturing the different contextual circumstances in which newly enfranchised female voters were embedded, and through a difference-in-differences approach, I show that the implementation of female suffrage did not benefit the right or the left, nor it had an impact on electoral participation. Therefore, preliminary results point to the idea that enfranchising women simply doubled the votes for each party and, hence, had little effect on vote choice or turnout.
If you are interested in having the paper send an email to gr.dec@uab.cat