Competing Inequalities? On the Intersection of Gender and Ethnicity in Candidate Nominations in Indian Elections

Abstract

Quotas for women and ethnic minorities are implemented to increase diversity in political institutions, but, as they usually target only one group at a time, they may end up increasing the inclusion of one under-represented group at the cost of another. Recent work has emphasized the institutional underpinnings of the variation in such outcomes. In this article I show how the intersectional effects of quotas may also vary within the same institutional context, as changes in the pressure to include excluded groups interact with the informal opportunity structures within political parties. Looking at the nomination of female candidates across India over time, I show that, as the efforts to include more women in politics intensified, much of the increase in female candidates occurred in constituencies reserved for ethnic minorities. This pattern may in part be the result of parties resisting changes to existing power hierarchies by nominating women at the cost of the least powerful male politicians, but can also be seen as evidence that minority quotas have created a political space that is more accessible to women.

Do Gender Quotas Hurt Less Privileged Groups? Evidence from India

“…By contrast, the literature on the relationship between these two different dimensions of descriptive representation, and the effects of imposing quotas on only one dimension, is small. It has generally found either that both party and constituency quotas on one dimension increase or have no impact on the representation of disadvantaged groups on the other dimension (Cassan and Vandewalle 2017;Celis et al 2014;Folke, Freidenvall, and Rickne 2015;Jensenius 2016;Tan 2014), or focuses only on their effect on the representation of the intersectional category (Hughes 2011). This echoes work in American politics that shows female-minority intersectionality having non-negative effects on running for office after gender and race are accounted for (Bejarano 2013;Fraga et al 2008;Philpot and Walton 2007;Scola 2013).…”

“…Constituencies reserved for SCs and STs constitute a partial exception to this pattern(Jensenius 2016).…”

Pathbreakers? Women's Electoral Success and Future Political Participation

“… Recent work has documented that the fraction of female candidates is higher in constituencies reserved for the scheduled castes (SC) in India (Jensenius, ). Since the caste composition does not vary discontinuously at our threshold, this does not constitute a threat to our identification strategy.…”

India: A Contradictory Record

“…6 In the elections to the state assemblies the numbers were even lower (Jensenius, 2016 1952 1957 1962 1967 1971 1977 1980 1984 1989 1991 1996 1998 1999 2004 2009 Jharta (1996, p. 64); the remainder are from the elections reports created by the Election Commission of India (collated in Jensenius 2016). In the report from 1971 the demarcation of male and female winners is incorrect, so the number of elected female MPs in 1971 has been taken from Guha (1974, p. 293 behind their responsibilities at home, and that family support was crucial in enabling them to run for office (see Kishwar, 1997, pp.…”