Is the time right? The effect of daytime meetings on political representation and selection

Combining family life with political work is difficult. I leverage novel data on local council meetings in Norway to investigate whether `family friendly’ meeting schedules affect political participation. Exploiting municipality-level changes in meeting schedules, I show that women are 10-15% more likely to run for political office when councils meet during standard business hours. I also provide descriptive evidence on the sectoral background of politicians, suggesting that the question of when to meet has multidimensional consequences for the quality and composition of elected members.