Brulé Discusses New Book with India Development Review
Rachel Brulé, Assistant Professor of Global Development Policy at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was interviewed by the India Development Review on her latest book Women, Power, and Property: the Paradox of Gender Equality Laws in India.
In the interview, Brulé talked about how she got into investigating the links between political representation and economic empowerment while exploring the broader question of how to undercut inegalitarian social conventions as well as the key findings of her research. She also touched on the importance of recognizing the relationship between the Indian caste system, political representation, and property rights as well as the role of quotas.
An excerpt:
How is the relationship between political representation and property rights impacted by caste? Does it hold true across caste groups, and does the caste of elected women make a difference?
I found the strongest positive relationship between political representation and the ability to claim property rights amongst the relatively advantaged castes. There is a nine to ten percentage point improvement in the likelihood that women will inherit land if they’re from forward castes…
But these are also the groups that see the strongest backlash, as social constraints on women’s mobility tend to bind even more keenly for women from upper castes. When gender-equal property rights are introduced in addition to having a woman elected leader, we see a decline of somewhere between 21 and 24 percentage points in the probability that they’ll inherit any land.
The full interview can be read on the India Development Review‘s website. Learn more about Women, Power, and Property on the Pardee School website.
Rachel Brulé is an Assistant Professor of Global Development Policy at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University and core faculty of the Global Development Policy Center’s Human Capital Initiative. Her research interests are broadly in comparative politics, international development, political economy, and gender, with a geographical focus on South Asia. Read more about Brulé on her faculty profile.