Abstract:We offer a rationale for the decision to extend the franchise to women within a politico-economic model. We first derive the tax rate chosen by the male median voter. Next we show that, as industrialization raises women's relative wage, the cost of disenfranchisement becomes higher than the cost of the higher tax under universal enfranchisement, so that the male median voter is better off extending the franchise to women. A consequent expansion of the size of government is only to be expected under a relatively high cost of disenfranchisement. An empirical investigation conducted over the 1870-1930 supports the model's implications.