Political Reservation for Women and Delivery of Public Works Program

In this paper, we examine the impact of political reservations for women on NREGA, India's largest public works program. The 73rd Amendment to the Indian Constitution mandated for one third of the Panchayats to be randomly assigned for female leaders in the village council. Using detailed data on Panchayat elections, employment and public works expenditure for 9 districts in Uttar Pradesh, we find a significant increase in the demand for work under the program but find no effect in the actual take up of work by both men and women. Further, we find mixed evidence with respect to the type of works taken up by female leaders versus their male counterparts. Our study thus adds to the literature on public works distribution and the role of female leaders in governments.