Stepping into Formal Politics

Alexandra M. Girard

World Development, 2014, vol. 57, issue C, 1-18

Abstract: Gender quotas, decentralization of irrigation management, and reliance on MGNREGA for labor provision challenge the traditional patriarchal canal management system by institutionalizing women as formal decision-makers and members of the irrigation labor force in northern India. Based on a survey of 592 women in rural Himachal Pradesh, this paper quantitatively analyses how these policies affect women’s engagement in formal political processes. Results indicate that factors from the private and individual domains influence female participation in formal political processes. Most importantly, India’s gender inclusive policies provide women with the opportunity to legitimately engage in formal political processes governing resource management.

Keywords: women; political participation; MGNREGA; irrigation; India; South Asia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X13002611
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:57:y:2014:i:c:p:1-18

DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2013.11.010

Access Statistics for this article

World Development is currently edited by O. T. Coomes

More articles in World Development from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().