Women’s Political Reservation, Early Childhood Development, and Learning in India

This article analyzes the long-term impacts of reservation of local political seats for women on children’s learning and nutritional outcomes in rural Andhra Pradesh. Using the random rotation of seats reserved for women over different election cycles and three rounds of a panel data set, we analyze the impact of exposure to political reservation during critical periods in early childhood. The article shows that the reservation policy for female leaders had the largest impact on learning outcomes in primary school when children were exposed to reservation in utero and very early in life.