Tokenism or Agency? The Impact of Women’s Reservations on Village Democracies in South India

Ban, Radu; Rao, Vijayendra

doi:10.1086/533551

Cited by 108 publications

(97 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Chattopadhyay and Du ‡o(2004b) …nd that women leaders bene…t their villages while providing the public goods preferred by women. Ban and Rao(2008a), on the other hand, …nd that women leaders do not in ‡uence the provision of public goods and that their performance is hampered by the presence of a large upper caste landowner faction. Chattopadhyay and Du ‡o(2004a), and Besley, Pande and Rao(2004b) …nd that reservations for disadvantaged castes yield bene…ts to the members of these castes in the village.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is Deliberation Equitable? Evidence From Transcripts Of Village Meetings In South India

Ban¹,

Rao²

2009

Policy Research Working Papers

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Deliberative decision-making processes are becoming increasingly important around the world to make important decisions about public and private goods allocation, but there is very little empirical evidence about how they actually work. In this paper the authors use data from India extracted from 131 transcripts of village meetings matched with data from household surveys conducted in the same villages prior to the meetings, to study whose preferences are reflected in the meetings. The meetings are constitutionally empowered to make decisions about public and private goods. The findings show that the more land a person owns, the This paper-a product of the Poverty Team, Development Research Group-is part of a larger effort in the department to understand local government and citizen-based engagement in developing countries. Policy Research Working Papers are also posted on the Web at http://econ.worldbank.org. The author may be contacted at vrao@worldbank.org.higher the likelihood her preference is mentioned in the meeting, the longer the amount of time spent discussing this preference, and the higher the likelihood that a decision to provide or repair this public or private good is taken. At the same time, the voices of disadvantaged castes, while not dominating the meeting, are also heard. By contrast, the preferences of Muslims are given less time. High village literacy and the presence of higher level officials during village meetings mitigate the power of the landed, but political reservations for low castes for the post of village president increase the power of the landed.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is Deliberation Equitable? Evidence From Transcripts Of Village Meetings In South India

Ban¹,

Rao²

2009

Policy Research Working Papers

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“…Previous research on women's political participation at the panchayat level, particularly focusing on reservation has mapped out the performance of women leaders, their impact on governance, and supporting a gender equity agenda (Chattopadhyay and Duflo 2003;Ban and Rao 2006). A study carried out by the Institute of Social Studies Trust (ISST) (Bisht and Sudarshan 2005) tried to explain the conditions under which effective women's leadership emerges within existing structures of governance.…”

Section: Observations From the Fieldmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ban and Rao (2006) argue that while women leaders are not mere tokens because they are likely to be from wealthier families, more knowledgeable about political activities and politically experienced, women leaders perform no differently than male leaders and are no more likely to make decisions that favour women's concerns. The experiences of the UMP, however, emphasise the need to look at processes of governance as well as gender equity in a relational framework, examining the backward and forward linkages and interactions within communities as a dynamic whole.…”

Section: Policy Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a Politics of Collective Empowerment: Learning from Hill Women in Rural Uttarakhand, India

Sharma

Sudarshan

2010

IDS Bulletin

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This article argues that to understand the conditions that enable effective participation by women in politics, analysis is needed not just of the characteristics and performance of elected women leaders but also the extent to which village communities are engaged through collective processes, in demanding accountability from those elected. The article presents the experiences of a women's movement in the Uttarakhand that has evolved from a programme of environmental education in the region. Over the years, this movement has developed a strong political consciousness. Women's participation in Whole Village Groups has paved the way for active engagement with local governance institutions. The article concludes that by enabling collective spaces, reinforcing norms of equality and inclusiveness through debate and negotiation, building networks across villages and supporting each other through conflicts and confrontation, the organisations concerned have demonstrated that processes of collective empowerment can lead to effective political participation.

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“…However, these positive effects are not universal and might be region specific or take time to eventuate. Using data from South India, Ban and Rao (2008) fail to find evidence that women leaders favor femalepreferred goods or significantly impact government services. Bardhan et al (2010) using a unique time series data from West Bengal villages find no impact of female reservation on public good provision.…”

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confidence: 90%

Social Norms and Governance: The Behavioral Response to Female Leadership

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Tokenism or Agency? The Impact of Women’s Reservations on Village Democracies in South India

Cited by 108 publications

References 5 publications

Is Deliberation Equitable? Evidence From Transcripts Of Village Meetings In South India

Is Deliberation Equitable? Evidence From Transcripts Of Village Meetings In South India

Towards a Politics of Collective Empowerment: Learning from Hill Women in Rural Uttarakhand, India

Social Norms and Governance: The Behavioral Response to Female Leadership

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