India: Women quotas in politics have unintended consequence
Source: Phys
To rectify this inequality, a majority of countries (or at least one political party in most) have imposed female electoral quota systems, or rules designed to increase the representation of women. The catch? Boosting gender may well curtail representation in other respects.
An unintended consequence of such quotas is the reduction of other underrepresented minorities, finds a recent University of Rochester study in the American Journal of Political Science.
The Rochester study looked at India's caste system and female representation in local government, where female-reserved seats have been enshrined in the 73rd and 74th Amendments of the Indian Constitution since the early 1990s.
"The effect of electoral quotas for women in India was to reduce the representation of lower caste groups," says lead author Alexander Lee, an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Rochester, who looked specifically at what happened in Delhi in local elections once gender quotas were introduced. “In India if you have a policy that lets you choose only women, a disproportionate number of these women will be upper caste,” says Lee.
Click here to read the full article published by Phys on 22 may 2020.
To rectify this inequality, a majority of countries (or at least one political party in most) have imposed female electoral quota systems, or rules designed to increase the representation of women. The catch? Boosting gender may well curtail representation in other respects.
An unintended consequence of such quotas is the reduction of other underrepresented minorities, finds a recent University of Rochester study in the American Journal of Political Science.
The Rochester study looked at India's caste system and female representation in local government, where female-reserved seats have been enshrined in the 73rd and 74th Amendments of the Indian Constitution since the early 1990s.
"The effect of electoral quotas for women in India was to reduce the representation of lower caste groups," says lead author Alexander Lee, an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Rochester, who looked specifically at what happened in Delhi in local elections once gender quotas were introduced. “In India if you have a policy that lets you choose only women, a disproportionate number of these women will be upper caste,” says Lee.
Click here to read the full article published by Phys on 22 may 2020.
