Economics Research Seminar – Dr Barbara Boelmann

Title: Missing Men and Women’s Fight for the Vote (with Carola Stapper)

Date:  12 March 2025

Time: 13:30 – 14:30

Venue: NUBS.4.23

If you would like to attend, please register using the following link:

Missing Men and Women’s Fight for the Vote (with Carola Stapper)

Speaker:  Dr Barbara Boelmann

Dr Barbara Boelmann is an applied labour economist and studies structural factors underlying inequalities on the labour market with a focus on gender inequalities. She is currently employed as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cologne, a YEP Fellow of ECONtribute, and a researcher at the Research Data Centre Ruhr of the RWI. In addition, she is affiliated with C-SEB and the Collaborative Research Center Transregio 224. Barbara Boelmann has obtained her PhD from University College London and CReAM in 2022. She holds an MSc in Economics and a BA in Economics and Chinese Studies, both from the Ruhr-University of Bochum.

Abstract:

In this paper, we investigate whether power vacua lead to collective action of marginalised groups. Specifically, we examine whether the large share of men missing during World War I in Germany led to an increase in the suffragette movement fighting for women’s right to vote. We exploit exogenous variation in the drafting probability arising from regional differences in recruitment responsibility and link it to the presence of local suffragette clubs. Our results suggest that women were more likely to keep open local suffragette clubs in regions with higher male absences during the war. We further explore two additional outcomes of male absences related to women’s empowerment. First, we show that male absences led to increased political participation among women once female voting rights were introduced. Second, using data on employment by industry and gender, we show that missing men contributed to the growing importance of women in the economic sphere.