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Pathbreakers? Women's Electoral Success and Future Political Participation

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  • Sonia Bhalotra
  • Irma Clots‐Figueras
  • Lakshmi Iyer

Abstract

We investigate whether the event of women being competitively elected as state legislators encourages subsequent political participation among women. Using a regression discontinuity design on Indian constituency level data, we find that female incumbents are more likely than male incumbents to re‐contest and that there is a decline in the entry of new women candidates. This decline is most pronounced in states with entrenched gender bias and in male‐headed parties, suggesting an intensification of barriers against women in these areas. Similar results for (mostly male) Muslim candidates indicate the presence of institutionalised demand‐side barriers rather than gender‐specific preferences and constraints.

Suggested Citation

  • Sonia Bhalotra & Irma Clots‐Figueras & Lakshmi Iyer, 2018. "Pathbreakers? Women's Electoral Success and Future Political Participation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(613), pages 1844-1878, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:econjl:v:128:y:2018:i:613:p:1844-1878
    DOI: 10.1111/ecoj.12492
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    Cited by:

    1. Kikuta,Kyosuke, 2023. "More Equality for Women Does Mean Less War: Descriptive Representation, Legislative Votes, and International Conflict," IDE Discussion Papers 904, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    2. Barbara Boelmann & Carola Stapper, 2026. "Missing Men and Women´s Demand for Political Representation?," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2025_740, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    3. Arceo-Gomez, Eva O. & Campos-Vazquez, Raymundo M., 2022. "Gender Bias in Evaluation Processes," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    4. Bhalotra, Sonia & Clots-Figueras, Irma & Iyer, Lakshmi, 2021. "Religion and abortion: The role of politician identity," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    5. Loretti Dobrescu & Alberto Motta & Akshay Shanker, 2024. "The Power of Knowing a Woman Is in Charge: Lessons from a Randomized Experiment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 70(12), pages 8217-8244, December.
    6. Anukriti, S & Calvi, Rossella & Chakravarty, Abhishek, 2023. "Can Effective Policy Implementation Alter Political Selection? Evidence from Female Legislators in India," IZA Discussion Papers 16639, IZA Network @ LISER.
    7. Deininger, Klaus & Nagarajan, Hari K & Singh, Sudhir K, 2020. "Women's political leadership and economic empowerment: Evidence from public works in India," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 277-291.
    8. Kirill Borusyak & Matan Kolerman-Shemer, 2024. "Regression discontinuity aggregation, with an application to the union effects on inequality," Papers 2501.00428, arXiv.org.
    9. Bramucci, Francesca & Munoz Boudet, Ana Maria & Viollaz, Mariana, 2025. "Promoting Women’s Leadership : What Works, What Doesn’t, and What’s Missing," Policy Research Working Paper Series 11239, The World Bank.
    10. Hessami, Zohal & da Fonseca, Mariana Lopes, 2020. "Female political representation and substantive effects on policies: A literature review," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    11. Priyanka, Sadia, 2020. "Do female politicians matter for female labor market outcomes? Evidence from state legislative elections in India," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    12. Bagues, Manuel & Campa, Pamela, 2021. "Can gender quotas in candidate lists empower women? Evidence from a regression discontinuity design," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    13. Bhalotra, Sonia & Brulé, Rachel & Roy, Sanchari, 2020. "Women's inheritance rights reform and the preference for sons in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).

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