The feminization of Indian politics

The feminization of Indian politics

News:

Study shows women legislators in India raise economic performance in their constituencies by about 1.8 percentage points per year more than male legislators.

Important Facts:

• The project studies close elections between men and women for election to India’s state legislative assemblies. It finds significantly higher growth in economic activity in constituencies that elect women.
• The study is relevant to the pending proposal to reserve one third of all federal and state assembly seats for women.
• Significance of Raising the share of women in India’s state legislative assemblies.
  • Better Policy Making – Better representation of women’s and children’s concerns in policymaking
  • Higher economic growth – Research suggests that women favour redistributive politics and, thus, have a tolerance of higher taxes
  • Less Criminalization of Politics – Male legislators are about three times as likely as female legislators to have criminal charges. These findings reflect that women are more fair, risk-averse and less likely to engage in criminal and other risky behavior than men.
  • Economic infrastructure – Evaluation of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana shows the share of incomplete road projects is 22 percentage points lower in female-led constituencies.

Critical Evaluation:

• Women legislators only perform better than men in non-swing constituencies. In swing constituencies (swing seat is a constituency held with a small majority in a legislative election) where electoral uncertainty is greater, elected men appear to exert more effort to improve economic growth.

Global Scenario:

• More than a hundred countries have introduced quotas for women in parliament or in party lists in the last two decades.
• The percentage of women in parliament worldwide has more than doubled in the last 20 years, standing at 22.8% in June 2016.