Reform, Representation & Resistance: The Politics of Property Rights’ Enforcement

Many nations have set quotas reserving a certain portion of seats in government for women, including India, South Africa and Switzerland. While quotas are meant to ensure female political representation, the data on whether they also advance economic gender equality is mixed. Some scholars contend that female political representatives boost women’s ability to voice policy preferences and demand political rights. Others find evidence of backlash against female representation, which in turn diminishes women’s political engagement and increases discrimination and violence against women.

In a new Journal of Politics article, Rachel Brulé contributes to the scholarship on the effects of quotas by considering the impact of political representation on enforcement of women’s property rights. Using data from India, the world’s largest democracy, Brulé argues that quotas mandating women’s political representation can increase enforcement of property rights by empowering female legislators to step into the pivotal role of “gatekeepers,” helping other women demand property rights and secure their enforcement. 

Main findings:

• Political representation enables women to secure property rights and ensures they are upheld. Backlash occurs when reservations guaranteeing female representation are written into law and enforced. 
• Women can reduce backlash by turning to female representatives at the time of marriage negotiations. Female representatives can help women trade traditional monetary dowry for property inheritance and familial responsibilities, resulting in agreements that benefit the entire family. 

Brulé’s findings confirm the power of political representation to not only help women claim economic rights but also broaden their acceptance. However, the analysis suggests quotas for women’s representation are successful at incentivizing economic gender equality only to the extent that they create space for all parties to benefit—such as the forgoing of dowries in exchange for access to property rights. The gatekeeper theory demonstrates that quotas for female representatives open doors for women to claim what may be tiny plots of land that nonetheless hold transformational power.