Representation from below: How women’s grassroots party activism promotes equal political participation

78 Pages Posted: 1 May 2020 Last revised: 27 Feb 2023

See all articles by Tanushree Goyal

Tanushree Goyal

Princeton University - Department of Political Science

Date Written: April 5, 2019

Abstract

A vast scholarship examines whether descriptive representation increases women's political participation. However, how these effects occur is not fully understood. This paper develops a novel theory of descriptive representation, arguing that women politicians increase women's political participation by recruiting women as grassroots party activists. Evidence from primary citizen survey and the natural experiment of gender quotas in India indicates that women politicians are more likely to recruit women party activists and citizens report greater contact with them in reserved constituencies. The results show that, with women party activists at the helm, ground campaigns are more likely to canvass women, and that receiving partisan contact is positively associated with political knowledge and participation. Evidence from representative politician and party activist surveys, and fieldwork in ground campaigns strengthens support for the theory. The findings illuminate how descriptive representation advances equal participation in settings with restrictive gender norms.

Keywords: Female political participation, symbolic effects, mobilization

Suggested Citation

Goyal, Tanushree, Representation from below: How women’s grassroots party activism promotes equal political participation (April 5, 2019). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3583693 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3583693

Tanushree Goyal (Contact Author)

Princeton University - Department of Political Science ( email )

Robertson Hall
Princeton, NJ 08544-1013
United States

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
335
Abstract Views
2,897
Rank
140,201
PlumX Metrics