Changing Patterns of Women’s Turnout in Indian Elections

Abstract

This article traces the changing patterns of women’s turnout in state assembly and Lok Sabha elections in India. The primary objective of the article is to understand why more women are turning out to vote. The article discusses the self-empowerment hypothesis, increased female literacy and deeper penetration of media as possible factors behind this recent upsurge. It also studies how greater interest in politics and relatively higher participation in campaign activities by women in recent elections are possibly related to the increased turnout. The analysis presented in the article is based on a combination of both aggregate data and survey data. The article uses empirical evidence from the National Election Studies conducted by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies for the 2004, 2009 and the 2014 General Elections and the Census of India 2001 and 2011.