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Path-Breakers: How Does Women’s Political Participation Respond to Electoral Success?

Author

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  • Sonia Bhalotra

    (University of Essex)

  • Irma Clots-Figueras

    (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid)

  • Lakshmi Iyer

    (Harvard Business School, Business, Government and the International Economy Unit)

Abstract

We investigate whether the event of a woman being competitively elected as a state legislator encourages the subsequent political participation of women, using a regression discontinuity design on constituency level data from India. 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 institutionalized demand-side barriers rather than gender-specific preferences and constraints.

Suggested Citation

  • Sonia Bhalotra & Irma Clots-Figueras & Lakshmi Iyer, 2013. "Path-Breakers: How Does Women’s Political Participation Respond to Electoral Success?," Harvard Business School Working Papers 14-035, Harvard Business School, revised Jan 2016.
    • Handle: RePEc:hbs:wpaper:14-035
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    Cited by:

    1. Sonia Bhalotra & Irma Clots-Figueras, 2014. "Health and the Political Agency of Women," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 6(2), pages 164-197, May.
    2. Girard, Victoire, 2018. "Don’t Touch My Road. Evidence from India on Affirmative Action And Everyday Discrimination," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 1-13.
    3. repec:esx:essedp:739 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Prakash, Nishith & Rockmore, Marc & Uppal, Yogesh, 2019. "Do criminally accused politicians affect economic outcomes? Evidence from India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    5. Jekaterina Kuliomina, 2016. "Does Election of an Additional Female Councilor Increase Women's Candidacy in the Future?," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp559, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    6. Victoire Girard, 2016. "Mandated political representation and crimes against the low castes," WIDER Working Paper Series 074, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    7. Jekaterina Kuliomina, 2018. "Does Election of an Additional Female Councilor Increase Women's Candidacy in the Future?," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 15(1), pages 37-81, June.
    8. Victoire Girard, 2016. "Mandated political representation and crimes against the low castes," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2016-74, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    9. Nishith Prakash & Marc Rockmore, 2014. "Do Criminal Representatives Hinder or Improve Constituency Outcomes? Evidence from India," Working papers 2014-20, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
    10. Anukriti, S & Chakravarty, Abhishek, 2015. "Political Aspirations in India: Evidence from Fertility Limits on Local Leaders," IZA Discussion Papers 9023, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Political participation; women; candidates; gender bias; backlash; minority representation; regression discontinuity; India;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing
    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State

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