Who Actually Governs? Gender Inequality and Political Representation in Rural India

Research on representative democracy often assumes that elected officials from disadvantaged and dominant groups are equally influential once in office. Drawing on an original survey in 319 Indian village councils, we leverage both reputational measures and behavioral observations to show that this assumption does not hold. Women elected through gender quotas do not equally affect decision-making in village councils after their election. Analyses suggest that this gender disadvantage can be magnified or mitigated by inequalities on other identity dimensions. Recognition of this underappreciated form of political inequality is imperative for scholars to accurately identify the strengths and limitations of descriptive representation. From a policy standpoint, this suggests that reforms aiming to increase the representation of members of disadvantaged groups (e.g. quotas) may not alone suffice to enable individuals from traditionally excluded groups to affect policy.