title: Women's Political Empowerment and Investments in Primary Schooling in India.
abstract: Using a national district-level dataset of India composed of information on investments in primary schooling (data from the District Information Survey for Education [DISE, 2007/8]) and information on demographic characteristics of elected officials (data from the Election Commission of India [ECI, 2000/04]), we examined the relationship between women's representation in State Legislative Assembly (SLA) seats and district-level investments in primary schooling. We used OLS regressions adjusting for confounders and spatial autocorrelation, and estimated separate models for North and South India. Women's representation in general SLA seats typically was negatively associated with investments in primary-school amenities and teachers; women's representation in SLA seats reserved for under-represented minorities, i.e., scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, typically was positively associated with investments in primary schooling, especially in areas addressing the basic needs of poor children. Women legislators' genderandcaste identities may shape their decisions about redistributive educational policies.
authors.affiliation: Center for Global Health and Development and Department of Global Health, School of Public Health, Boston University, 801 Massachusetts Ave, Crosstown Center, 3rd Floor, Boston, MA 02118.
authors.forename: Nafisa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Halim
authors.affiliation: Hubert Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Rd. NE, Atlanta, GA 30322; kyount@emory.edu; tel: 404-727-8511; fax: 404-727-4590 ; Department of Sociology, Emory University, 1555 Dickey Drive, Atlanta, GA 30322.
authors.forename: Kathryn M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Yount
authors.affiliation: Hubert Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Rd. NE, Atlanta, GA 30322; kyount@emory.edu; tel: 404-727-8511; fax: 404-727-4590 ; Department of Sociology, Emory University, 1555 Dickey Drive, Atlanta, GA 30322.
authors.forename: Solveig A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Cunningham
authors.affiliation: Independent Research Consultant, 7118 Willow Avenue, Takoma Park, MD 20912.
authors.forename: Rohini P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Pande
keywords: India; gender; intersectionality; political representation; primary schooling; redistributive policies