Do female politicians matter for female labor market outcomes? Evidence from state legislative elections in India

Abstract

This paper studies the long-term economic consequences of electing women to state legislatures in India. I use data on age cohorts 15–24 between 1980 and 2007 and estimate the causal effect of exposure to female politicians during young adulthood on later life female labor market outcomes. To address the endogeneity of electoral preferences, I use close elections between male and female candidates, won by a woman, as an instrument for female political representation in a district. I find that exposure to female politicians during young adulthood leads to a large increase in the probability of women working in wage employment, specifically from areas with less entrenched gender bias, but has limited effect on self-employment or casual work. There is a corresponding increase in the likelihood of completing higher secondary education and selecting into sales, service, and clerical occupations in the private sector, which require a higher level of education. The evidence suggests that the employment effects are consistent with dual channels of a policy role and changing aspirations of young girls due to role modeling.