Political reservations and women's entrepreneurship in India

Ghani, Ejaz; Kerr, William R.; O’Connell, Stephen D.

doi:10.1016/j.jdeveco.2014.01.008

Cited by 92 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…‘Responsibilities of the panchayat include administration of state transfer programmes, planning and implementation of schemes for economic development, establishment and administration of educational and medical facilities, oversight of local infrastructure (water, sewage, roads, etc. ), and monitoring of civil servants’ (Ghani et al., ).…”

Section: Panchayati Raj Institutions: Background Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Eventually, most states/union territories held compliant elections, and there was considerable variation across states in the timing of the first election held under the provisions of the Amendments. The timing of the effective compliance varied exogenously primarily owing to state authorities waiting for the term of existing elected local governing bodies to expire before conducting elections under the quotas (Ghani et al., ). For instance, Karnataka had already implemented the reservation for women before the Amendments, and West Bengal made adjustments that came into effect during the 1993 election.…”

Section: Panchayati Raj Institutions: Background Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A key feature of the reservations policy in the Panchayat is that the Pradhan seats to be reserved were randomly allocated (Duflo, ). At each appropriate level of government, the reservations subsequently rotate around the included bodies to maintain the one‐third target (Ghani et al., ; Iyer et al., ).…”

Section: Panchayati Raj Institutions: Background Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is also possible that political role models have a pervasive effect such that the stereotypes held by men about the role of women in society change, thus relaxing gender norms in relation to their partners and daughters. Beaman, Chattopadhyay, Duflo, Pande, and Topalova () find that increased female political representation improves parental aspirations for daughters (Beaman et al., ) and increases the establishment of female‐owned businesses in the informal sector (Ghani, Kerr, & O'Connell, ), in addition to decreasing sex selection (Kalsi, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Political role models and child marriage in India

Castilla

2018

Review Development Economics

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Drawing data from the most recent wave of the India Human Development Survey and the year of the first election with reserved seats for women, I estimate the effect of the Panchayati Raj institutions on child marriage. In India, marriage traditions dictate that two ceremonies take place: the wedding and the gauna ceremony. These differ in timing and purpose. After the wedding, the bride and groom do not necessarily live together. The gauna ceremony indicates the start of marital life and the consummation of the marriage. Results indicate that women in local government decrease the likelihood of child marriage, and delay the age at first marriage and the gauna ceremony. Delaying marriage has important policy implications for both the bride and her future children as it improves education, autonomy over fertility, and health. The results indicate that after 18 years of implementation, exposure to women in government can reduce the prevalence of child marriage.

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Section: Panchayati Raj Institutions: Background Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Panchayati Raj Institutions: Background Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Panchayati Raj Institutions: Background Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Political role models and child marriage in India

Castilla

2018

Review Development Economics

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“…Quotas in India led to heightened police responsiveness to crimes against women, improvements in children's nutrition and educational outcomes, and increased women's entrepreneurship [6] [7] [8] [9]. Also in India, both men and women in communities with quotas were more willing to contribute money to public good provision [10].…”

Section: Supporting Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Improving women’s representation in politics through gender quotas

2018

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Gender quotas for women in local government bodies can improve women's representation in politics, increase provision of public services, and improve perceptions of women as leaders.Posters for female political candidates in India. Photo: AjayTvm | Shutterstock.com Summary:Gender quotas are one policy tool designed to increase women's representation in politics. Women hold fewer than 25 percent of parliamentary seats worldwide, and just 12 percent of the world's heads of state and government are women. In many countries this imbalance extends to local governments.Countries are taking action: In 2013, 118 countries were implementing a form of gender quotas for an elected office.One way to implement gender quotas is by reserving a certain number of leadership positions for women. A review of eleven randomized evaluations in Afghanistan, Lesotho, and across 24 states in India found that reservation quotas influenced women's political participation and policy outcomes and increased the provision of public goods aligned with female voters' preferences. Further, quotas improved men's perceptions of women as leaders, increased the aspirations of girls, and helped women get elected even after quotas were removed. Most of the rigorous research drawn on in this insight comes from India; comparative conclusions should be drawn cautiously.This evidence largely suggests that governments seeking to improve women's representation in politics should consider reservation quotas for local leadership positions. Supporting Evidence:Women leaders invested more in policies and programs women care about. Quotas are important because women may have different preferences about public goods than men.Communities in India with gender quotas for local village leaders had more public goods overall than communities without quotas, and female leaders invested more than male leaders in public goods linked to women's concerns Elected women made independent choices. One risk of gender quotas is that reserving political seats for women may not effect genuine change. For example, husbands of elected female leaders may maintain power by controlling the actions of their wives. In India, women elected under quotas were more likely than their male counterparts to state that their spouses encouraged them to stand for election and helped them do their jobs [3]. However, differences in public goods provision and policy preferences between female and male leaders demonstrate that women were able to make their own governing decisions [3].In some cases, having a female leader meant women participated more in community governance. In Afghanistan, gender quotas in village development councils led to increased women's participation in village governance, community life, and economic activities [4]. In Indian communities with quotas, women were more likely to speak in community meetings [3] [10].In Lesotho, although women in quota communities reported being less interested in politics than women in non-quota communities, they had similar levels of participation ...

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Gender and discouraged borrowers: Evidence from India

Ghosh

2023

J of Intl Development

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Using cross‐section data on small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the paper examines the importance of gender on discouraged borrowers in India. We distinguish the role of women across various capacities, such as owner, manager and owner‐manager. Controlling for potential endogeneity, the findings indicate that firms with women managers and those where women perform dual roles are more likely to be discouraged from borrowing. Furthermore, we show that interest rates and procedural complexities to be the key reasons that inhibit borrowing. Robustness tests lend credence to these findings.

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Political reservations and women's entrepreneurship in India

Cited by 92 publications

References 43 publications

Political role models and child marriage in India

Political role models and child marriage in India

Improving women’s representation in politics through gender quotas

Gender and discouraged borrowers: Evidence from India

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