Book Project

 

Left Behind or Left Ahead?


Implications of Male Migration on Women’s Political

Engagement in India


PDF | Ideas of India Podcast | Summary for Ideas for India

  • Best Paper by a Graduate Student Award (2022), APSA Migration and Citizenship Section

  • NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (2020)

  • Honorable Mention (2020), Empirical Gender Network Prize

How does the temporary absence of men from the household due to migration affect female political engagement? While studies on gender and politics have established the centrality of the household, they have largely overlooked how temporary changes in household composition shape political engagement. Using original data from a survey experiment (n=642) in Bihar, India, I show that the absence of male members, particularly a woman’s husband can lift implicit restrictions on female political engagement. Drawing on a primary survey (n=1900), and a nationally representative panel (n=24000), I argue that male migration, a significant global phenomenon resulting in routine absence of men, is leading to the feminization of political engagement. Through an increase in exposure to the public sphere, women make meaningful claims on the state, participate in civic activities, and discuss politics. Unlike existing resource-based theories, I find that female political engagement can increase even in the absence of financial autonomy

 

Effectiveness of Gender Quotas

 

Mere Proxies or Genuine Leaders?


Re-examining the Effectiveness of Gender Quotas

(with Priyadarshi Amar and Apurva Bamezai)

Studies have demonstrated that gender quotas in India have significant positive implications for society. Yet this evidence sits alongside anecdotal accounts of women merely serving as stand-ins for their male family members. What explains these seemingly contradictory findings? We argue that there exists considerable variation among women elected through gender quotas in their ability to genuinely hold office, but on average women are worse off than their male counter parts. We use two low-cost behavioral measures from three original surveys across two states in India to measure the extent to which women genuine hold office and examine the determinants of genuine power. We find evidence demonstrating that female elected leaders are worse off than their male counterparts in their ability to genuinely hold office across both our measures. The findings from this study have implications for our understanding of women's political entry, electoral performance and subsequent effectiveness in service delivery under gender quotas.

Other Writing

 

What Lies Behind India’s Rising Female Voter Turnout


Carnegie Endowment for International Peace - India Elects Series (link)

In India, as in many democracies around the world, there has long been a discernible gender gap in citizens’ political participation. For decades, Indian men were significantly more likely to cast their ballots on election day compared to women. It is noteworthy, therefore, that in the country’s 2019 general election, the historic gap between male and female turnout came to an end; for the first time on record, women voters turned out to vote at higher rates than men. Predictions for India’s upcoming 2024 general election suggest that this trend is likely to continue. Therefore, the increase in female turnout in what remains a largely male-dominated political arena raises two important questions. Why is women’s turnout rising? And what impact might this have on electoral dynamics as India heads into the 2024 general elections?