Colloquium: Do Equality-promoting Institutions Work? Evidence from Gender-segregated Voting in the Weimar Republic

What measures effectively reduce inequalities in political participation? We examine the impact of gender-segregated voting on the gender gap in voter turnout. While women-only polling stations are intended to create safe environments, they can complicate intra-household logistics and voting for family. We use hand-collected data from Weimar Germany, where some polling stations alternated between gender-segregated and joint voting following women's enfranchisement in 1919. Neither cross-sectional nor panel data indicate that gender-segregated voting influences voter turnout rates for women or men. If anything, we find that women's voter turnout is lower when gender-segregated polling stations impose longer distances. We conclude that equality-promoting institutions can unintentionally backfire by disrupting positive peer effects and introducing additional voting costs.