Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/71730 
Year of Publication: 
2013
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 7212
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We use the nation-wide policy of randomly allocating village council headships to women to identify the impact of female political leadership on the governance of projects implemented under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in India. Using primary survey data, we find more program inefficiencies and leakages in village councils reserved for women heads: political and administrative inexperience make such councils more vulnerable to bureaucratic capture. When using a panel of audit reports, governance improves as female leaders accumulate experience. These results suggest that female political leadership may generate gains in governance but only after the initial, gendered disadvantages recede. Our findings highlight capacity building as necessary for bolstering the effectiveness of political quotas for women.
Subjects: 
political reservations
gender
NREGA
India
JEL: 
P26
I38
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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