Pathbreakers? Women's Electoral Success and Future Political Participation

Abstract

We investigate whether the event of women being competitively elected as state legislators encourages subsequent political participation among women. Using a regression discontinuity design on Indian constituency level data, we find that female incumbents are more likely than male incumbents to re‐contest and that there is a decline in the entry of new women candidates. This decline is most pronounced in states with entrenched gender bias and in male‐headed parties, suggesting an intensification of barriers against women in these areas. Similar results for (mostly male) Muslim candidates indicate the presence of institutionalised demand‐side barriers rather than gender‐specific preferences and constraints.