Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 A Theory of Political Representation and Economic Agency
- 3 Property and Power: A Political History of the Hindu Joint Family
- 4 Where Are the Women? Investigating Reform’s Roots
- 5 The Politics of Property Rights Enforcement
- 6 The Long Arm of Resistance: Refusal to Care for Parents
- 7 Representation and Violence: Gender Equality and Sex Selection
- 8 Conclusion
- 9 Data Appendix
- Bibliography
- Index
7 - Representation and Violence: Gender Equality and Sex Selection
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 October 2020
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 A Theory of Political Representation and Economic Agency
- 3 Property and Power: A Political History of the Hindu Joint Family
- 4 Where Are the Women? Investigating Reform’s Roots
- 5 The Politics of Property Rights Enforcement
- 6 The Long Arm of Resistance: Refusal to Care for Parents
- 7 Representation and Violence: Gender Equality and Sex Selection
- 8 Conclusion
- 9 Data Appendix
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Do quotas mandating women’s political representation unsettle social norms enough to foment backlash that precludes future generations of daughters? I examine the extent to which diminishing sons’ traditionally stronger economic and political position alters preferences for male over female offspring. Overall, this analysis provides decisive evidence that backlash immediately follows quota-mandated female representation that enables enforcement of women’s substantial inheritance rights. Exposure to female gatekeepers lowers the proportion of daughters mothers bear by 5 to 20 percentage points, relative to women without access to female representatives. What about women with the greatest bargaining power? New political representation that expands opportunities for women to claim gender-equal economic rights might shift behavior amongst the youngest cohorts of mothers exposed to both changes (female-led political institutions and substantive economic rights) early in familial formation. At the margin, this group of women appear more inclined to give birth to daughters. Overall, analysis suggests a slight shift in favor of bearing and raising healthy sons for all but this youngest cohort of mothers. This chapter finds political representation enabling women to claim crucial economic rights to inherit property is not sufficient on its own to bring about meaningful or benign change.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Women, Power, and PropertyThe Paradox of Gender Equality Laws in India, pp. 191 - 213Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020