Institutions and Female Empowerment: The Impact of Village Governance Reforms in Rural India

Abstract

In 1993, the 73rd amendment to the Indian constitution was passed, which entrenched the Panchayati Raj system into the constitution. The Panchayati Raj system is a government structure whereby villages are governed by small village councils rather than a centralized, national government. The 73rd amendment included a set of quotas, one of which required that one-third of members elected to these village councils must be women. Starting in 2005, some Indian states began passing legislation that raised the quota of elected women to one-half. I exploit variation in the implementation of the one-half gender quota to see if there are any effects on female development outcomes. Using a difference-in-differences framework, I provide evidence that raising the quota from one-third to one-half increases female empowerment, as measured by the number of management decisions women are responsible for making on farms. However, household consumption of “male” and “female” goods does not change in response to raising the quota.