Powerful Women: Does Exposure Reduce Bias? Lori Beaman, Raghabendra Chattopadhyay, Esther Duflo, Rohini Pande and Petia Topalova CID Working Paper No. 175 July 2008 © Copyright 2008 Lori Beaman, Raghabendra Chattopadhyay, Esther Duflo, Rohini Pande and Petia Topalova, and the President and Fellows of Harvard College This paper investigates whether having a female chief councillor affects public opinion towards female leaders. Using random assignment of gender quotas across Indian village councils, the study finds that exposure to a female leader weakens stereotypes about gender roles and reduces negative bias in how female leaders' effectiveness is perceived by male villagers. Female villagers exhibit less prior bias but are less likely to know about or participate in local politics, so their attitudes are largely unaffected. Consistent with experimental findings, villagers rate their women leaders as less effective when exposed to them for the first time but not the second. These changes in attitude are electorally meaningful: after 10 years of the quota policy, women are more likely to stand for and win free seats in villages that have been continuously required to have a female chief councillor. The study uses a voting model to show how, in an electoral setting, future male candidates may systematically benefit from an initial voter preference for male leaders. Greater exposure to male leaders improves voter ability to screen male candidates, causing the expected effectiveness of male candidates to exceed that of their female counterparts if voters are risk averse. Statistical discrimination against female leaders will reinforce the initial taste bias and cause the stereotype that women make ineffective leaders to persist. Political reservation, by increasing voter exposure to female leaders, can reduce statistical discrimination even when voter taste is unaffected. The study finds that political reservation leads to significant electoral gains for women in the medium-run. In the recently concluded village council elections in May 2008, almost twice as many women stood for election and won unreserved councillor positions in councils where the chief councillor position had been reserved for women in the previous two elections, compared to villages which had either never been reserved or reserved only once. The paper provides direct evidence on these issues. It uses a simple voting model to show how, in an electoral setting, future male candidates may systematically benefit from an initial voter preference for male leaders. The study finds that political reservation reduces statistical discrimination against women in leadership positions. It also finds that political reservation leads to significant electoral gains for women in the medium-run. The study uses detailed data on voter attitudes to test these predictions. The results suggest that while deep preferences and social norms are difficult to erode, affirmative action programs can significantly improve perceptions of female leader effectiveness and reduce statistical discrimination against women in leadership positions.Powerful Women: Does Exposure Reduce Bias? Lori Beaman, Raghabendra Chattopadhyay, Esther Duflo, Rohini Pande and Petia Topalova CID Working Paper No. 175 July 2008 © Copyright 2008 Lori Beaman, Raghabendra Chattopadhyay, Esther Duflo, Rohini Pande and Petia Topalova, and the President and Fellows of Harvard College This paper investigates whether having a female chief councillor affects public opinion towards female leaders. Using random assignment of gender quotas across Indian village councils, the study finds that exposure to a female leader weakens stereotypes about gender roles and reduces negative bias in how female leaders' effectiveness is perceived by male villagers. Female villagers exhibit less prior bias but are less likely to know about or participate in local politics, so their attitudes are largely unaffected. Consistent with experimental findings, villagers rate their women leaders as less effective when exposed to them for the first time but not the second. These changes in attitude are electorally meaningful: after 10 years of the quota policy, women are more likely to stand for and win free seats in villages that have been continuously required to have a female chief councillor. The study uses a voting model to show how, in an electoral setting, future male candidates may systematically benefit from an initial voter preference for male leaders. Greater exposure to male leaders improves voter ability to screen male candidates, causing the expected effectiveness of male candidates to exceed that of their female counterparts if voters are risk averse. Statistical discrimination against female leaders will reinforce the initial taste bias and cause the stereotype that women make ineffective leaders to persist. Political reservation, by increasing voter exposure to female leaders, can reduce statistical discrimination even when voter taste is unaffected. The study finds that political reservation leads to significant electoral gains for women in the medium-run. In the recently concluded village council elections in May 2008, almost twice as many women stood for election and won unreserved councillor positions in councils where the chief councillor position had been reserved for women in the previous two elections, compared to villages which had either never been reserved or reserved only once. The paper provides direct evidence on these issues. It uses a simple voting model to show how, in an electoral setting, future male candidates may systematically benefit from an initial voter preference for male leaders. The study finds that political reservation reduces statistical discrimination against women in leadership positions. It also finds that political reservation leads to significant electoral gains for women in the medium-run. The study uses detailed data on voter attitudes to test these predictions. The results suggest that while deep preferences and social norms are difficult to erode, affirmative action programs can significantly improve perceptions of female leader effectiveness and reduce statistical discrimination against women in leadership positions.