When Do Gender Quotas Change Policy? Evidence from Household Toilet Provision in India

Sugat Chaturvedi, Sabyasachi Das and Kanika Mahajan

Economic Development and Cultural Change, 2025, vol. 73, issue 2, 749 - 779

Abstract: The evidence on the impact of gender quotas in politics on policies is mixed. We use household-level data on toilet allocation for the entire rural population of Uttar Pradesh, the most populous Indian state, and exploit the larger gender gap among Muslims than Hindus in the preference for toilets to show that variation in women’s intensity of preference (relative to men’s) makes the gender quota effect larger in villages with higher Muslim shares. We discuss possible mechanisms and find suggestive evidence that greater expression of demand by women with stronger preferences under female leadership can shape the gender quota effect.

Date: 2025
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