B.R. Ambedkar once said that “political power is the key to all social progress”. What, then, to make of the fact that India—a country where women suffer substantially greater socio-economic disadvantages than Western democracies like Spain—has a cabinet that is only 22% female and a Lok Sabha that has a meagre 12% female representation?
The 73 and 74th constitutional amendments in 1993 made it obliged to set 33% of all positions in the Panchayaya Raj institution for women. The underlying Ambedkarite logic is based on good economic reasoning. As stated by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson, the concentration of political power tends to lead to extractive economic institutions. Inclusive economic and growth institutions – both needed for and relying on social empowerment – requires inclusive political institutions.
The second effect is the responsive increase in officials to the request of the disadvantaged group – announce the recording effect. For example, this paper presents a greater police response proof of crime against women. Likewise, Esther Duflo’s economist has shown that the sex of the Presidential Council President affects the level of investment in public goods. Data collected in 2002 revealed that in Rajasthan and West Bengal, for example, an increase in women’s political representatives caused more investment in drinking water and roads in responding to complaints by local women.
Knock-on economic effects are also clear. In the 2014 National Economic Research Paper, Political Reservation and Women’s Entrepreneurship in India, Ejaz Ghani, William Kerr and Stephen O’Connell found a strong relationship between the implementation of political and small -scale political reservations among women. They recorded “growth in new women-owned companies and related work of around 40% after political orders were implemented” for the 1994-2005 period.
In addition, because women are not integrated in the local political process at first, and, unlike men, not part of the relevant social network and power, female leaders are vulnerable to inefficiency. Given this concern, there is an urgent need for leadership education and training to familiarize them with local governments that function and instill in it a sense of agency.
Both of these problems create a vicious circle where socio-economic losses cause reduced opportunities for women to participate in political processes, which lead to a weakened representation-which in turn, hinders the process of overcoming these socio-economic losses. This is a cycle that has been enshrined for seven decades. It must be damaged.