Does Having Daughters Make You More Liberal?

By LISA BELKIN

Politics (Illustration by Barry Falls) Having daughters rather than sons, or vice versa, can change a fathers politics. That is the conclusion of British researchers Andrew Oswald, of the University of Warwick and Cornell University, and Nattavudh Pawdthavee, of the University of York. They analyzed data from the British Household Panel Survey a study of British families who have been interviewed once a year since 1991 and found that fathers with three sons and no daughters were far more likely to vote for conservative candidates than were fathers of three daughters and no sons. Their paper has been submitted to, but not yet published by, The Review of Economics and Statistics, but Oswald told the Telegraph newspaper this past weekend that the research provides evidence that daughters make people more left-wing, while having sons, by contrast, makes them more right-wing. He theorized that having daughters made men gradually shift their political stance and become more sympathetic to the female desire for a larger amount for the public good. They become more left-wing. Similarly, a mother with sons becomes sympathetic to the male case for lower taxes and a smaller supply of public goods. So do children mold their parents political views, as Oswald believes? Or could it be, as biologist Arthur Mayne responded to the Telegraph: Recent studies seem to prove that women with higher levels of testosterone who are more likely to display dominant, positive behaviours seem to produce more sons than daughters. Women with lower levels of testosterone, who are more likely to be empathetic and better listeners, tend to produce more daughters. It could be that the women who are most likely to produce daughters pick a partner who is closer to her more empathetic attitude to life. Hence people who are already more liberal may produce more daughters and those who are already conservative may produce more sons. Oswald and Pawdthavee are not the first to argue that views of parents change with time depending on the gender of their offspring, however. In 2004, economist Ebonya Washington

studied the floor voting records of US congressmen and found that those with daughters voted more liberally on issues of reproductive rights. Then, in 2008, she expanded her analysis to other issues and found a more liberal pattern on issues like flexible work policies and government support for education. Does this ring true in your own life? Have your views on specific questions of policy changed since youve become a parent? How about your more general views on liberalism vs conservatism. Can it possibly have anything to do with seeing the world through the eyes of the opposite gender in other words, the eyes of your child?