Together We Will: Experimental Evidence on Female Voting Behavior in Pakistan

Abstract:

We assess the impact of a voter awareness campaign on female turnout, candidate choice and party vote shares. Geographic clusters within villages were randomly assigned to treatment or control, and within treated clusters, some households were left untreated. Compared to women in control clusters, both treated and untreated women in treated clusters are 12 percentage points more likely to vote, and are also more likely to exercise independence in candidate choice, indicating large spillovers. Data from polling stations suggests that treating 10 women increased female turnout by about 9 votes, resulting in a cost per vote of US$ 2.3.