Disconnected and Uninformed: Dissecting and Dismantling India’s Gender Gap in Political Participation

Given the persistent gender gap in political participation in India despite several decades of targeted policy interventions, I propose to evaluate a new mechanism aimed at increasing women’s political participation. The proposed RCT – which draws upon significant pilot work – evaluates (1) the role of political information and exposure and (2) integration in social networks in mobilizing women politically and reducing the gender gap in political participation. Through a gender and politics training intervention with the NGO PRADAN, women will receive information about the political system and their rights and entitlements within this system and will be directly exposed to existing political institutions, with the aim of reducing informational barriers to political participation. The RCT further tests the necessity of social networks for women’s political participation and the ability for the gender and politics training to activate existing social networks and further generate political engagement.