Promoting Women Politicians’ Political Agency Through Peer Groups: Evidence from a Pilot RCT

While women’s political representation has increased markedly, female elected representatives face challenges to their political agency once in office. This has important policy implications: limited political agency prevents women from meaningfully occupying elected office, encouraging women's political participation, and representing women’s preferences. In a pilot RCT, we develop one potential solution: forming peer solidarity groups among female politicians to improve their political agency. We do so in partnership with RSCD, an innovative community-based organization with decades of experience working with women politicians in Maharashtra, India. Our main pilot intervention forms medium-term, all-women peer solidarity groups among locally elected officials that (a) provide information about their roles and resources and (b) facilitate women’s solidarity networks. Additionally, we compare this intervention to a more typical peer solidarity group, which includes male political gatekeepers. We study these interventions’ effects on women’s political agency and efficacy.