Hi all,
This week at the Applied Statistics workshop we will be welcoming Solédad Prillaman, a
Ph.D. student at Harvard University. She will be presenting work entitled "Strength
in Numbers: How Women's Networks Close India's Political Gender Gap."
Please find the abstract below and on the website.
We will meet in CGIS Knafel Room 354 at noon and lunch will be provided.
Best,
Pam
Title: Strength in Numbers: How Women's Networks Close India's Political Gender
Gap
Abstract: In India there persists a striking gender gap in political participation and
representation, despite several decades of targeted policy interventions. Women's
political participation is important not only on normative grounds of inclusion, but
because we know that when women do participate, politics changes. I present a theoretical
model of political behavior in rural India which argues that women's lack of
political participation is the result of coordinated political behavior in the household.
I then argue that women's access to economic networks of other women is one channel
through which we can see a shift towards a gender-inclusive equilibrium, even when
resource allocations, social norms, and household dynamics would suggest otherwise. I test
this potential channel for women's political empowerment using a geographic
regression discontinuity design with pair-matched villages to identify the impact of a
program aimed at mobilizing women into small credit collectives. Original survey data from
7,770 women and men demonstrates that women who participated in this network intervention
were signicantly more active in local politics - women's attendance at local public
meetings is estimated to double. I show evidence of three possible mechanisms underlying
this network effect: (1) increased capacity for collective action, (2) information
transfers, and (3) civic skills and confidence. I confirm with qualitative interview data.
I show income to be uncorrelated with political participation. These findings have
implications for larger studies of political participation and importantly help to fill
the gap in our understanding of gendered political behavior.
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