Are women and welfare issues a policy preference for female legislators? Bill sponsorship in the Nigerian National Assembly from 1999-2013

There has been a heightened call for the election of more women into national parliaments worldwide, with the underlying assumption that electing more women into the legislature will lead to greater representation for women and their concerns and also have a policy impact. A number of empirical studies have been conducted to examine the legislative behavior of elected members and if indeed, having more women does have a policy impact. In this study, I examine the legislative behavior of female members of the Nigerian National Assembly. I hypothesize that female legislators are more likely than their male counterparts to sponsor bills that concern women's issues and welfare, especially if they have indicated a legislative interest in these areas. I analyzed a database of 2,142 bills sponsored in the Nigerian National Assembly between 1999 and 2013 under two thematic areas, bills that concern women and welfare issues, and bills that do not. I also collected information on the legislative and personal interests of female members of the legislature to determine if there was any relationship between the kind of bills they sponsored and their personal or legislative interest. I found that legislators who indicated a personal or legislative interest on issues concerning women or welfare, sponsored more bills on those areas. I also found that generally, women were indeed more likely to sponsor legislation that concerns women and welfare issues than men especially issues that solely concerned women's rights and gender equality.