Women, Power, and Property: The Paradox of Gender Equality Laws in India

Session Submission Type: Author meet critics

Session Description

Quotas for women in government have swept the globe. Yet we know little about their capacity to upend entrenched social, political, and economic hierarchies, and thus ensure stable, inclusive democratic regimes. ​Critics make two divergent argument about quota’s impact. Many argue that the symbolic benefits of quotas alone make them worthwhile independent of any resistance they inspire, and indeed that long-run benefits likely overshadow short-term backlash. Others tamper such optimism, suggesting that quotas may have gone too far already and be weakening rather than strengthening the cause of gender equality.

Women, Power, and Property is a book that takes on the question of how quotas alter equality within the context of India, the world’s largest democracy. Drawing on extensive field research and employing a cutting-edge research design that maximizes causal inference, Brulé explains the relationship between political representation, backlash, and economic empowerment. Her findings show that women in government--gatekeepers--catalyze access to fundamental economic rights to property. Women in politics have the power to support constituent rights at critical junctures, such as marriage negotiations, when they can strike integrative solutions to intrahousehold bargaining. Yet there is a paradox: quotas are essential for enforcement ​of rights, but they generate backlash against women who gain rights without bargaining leverage. In this groundbreaking study, Brulé shows how quotas can operate as a crucial tool to foster equality and benefit the women they are meant to empower.

This panel brings together a range of perspectives from different regions, using a diverse set of methods to answer the question of whether and if so, how institutional reforms can improve gender equality.

Sub Unit

• Division 12: Comparative Politics of Developing Countries

Cosponsors

• Division 6: Political Economy

• Division 31: Women and Politics Research

Chair

• Jennifer L. Bussell University of California, Berkeley

Presenters

• Rachel E. Brule Boston University

• Amaney Jamal Princeton University

• Rikhil R Bhavnani University of Wisconsin, Madison

• Gabrielle Kruks-Wisner University of Virginia