Halim Nafisa, Yount Kathryn M, Cunningham Solveig
Department of Global Health, Boston University, USA.
Hubert Department of Global Health, Emory University, USA; Department of Sociology, Emory University, USA.
Soc Sci Res. 2016 Jul;58:122-134. doi: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2016.01.002. Epub 2016 Feb 8.
Despite India's substantial investments in primary schooling, gaps in schooling persist across gender and caste-with scheduled caste and scheduled tribe (SC/ST) girls being particularly disadvantaged. The representation of SC/ST women in state legislatures may help to mitigate this disadvantage. Specifically, because of her intersecting gender and caste/tribe identities, a SC/ST woman legislator might maintain a strong sense of solidarity especially with SC/ST girls and women, and support legislative policies benefitting SC/ST girls. Consequently, for this reason, we expect that living in a district where SC/ST women represent in state legislatures in a higher proportion may increase SC/ST girls' primary school completion, progression and performance. We tested this hypothesis using district-level data between 2000 and 2004 from the Indian Election Commission, the 2004/5 India Human Development Survey, and the Indian Census of 2001. As expected, the representation of SC/ST women in state legislatures was positively associated with SC/ST girls' grade completion and age-appropriate grade progression but was apparent not SC/ST girls' primary-school performance. SC/ST women's representation in state legislatures may reduce gender-caste gaps in primary-school attainment in India.
尽管印度在小学教育方面投入巨大,但性别和种姓之间的教育差距依然存在,在册种姓和在册部落(SC/ST)女孩尤其处于不利地位。SC/ST女性在邦立法机构中的代表权可能有助于缓解这种不利状况。具体而言,由于SC/ST女性立法者兼具性别和种姓/部落身份,她们可能会对SC/ST女孩和妇女怀有强烈的团结意识,并支持有利于SC/ST女孩的立法政策。因此,我们预计,生活在SC/ST女性在邦立法机构中占比更高的地区,可能会提高SC/ST女孩的小学毕业率、升学情况和学习成绩。我们使用了来自印度选举委员会的2000年至2004年的地区层面数据、2004/5年印度人类发展调查以及2001年印度人口普查数据来检验这一假设。正如预期的那样,SC/ST女性在邦立法机构中的代表权与SC/ST女孩的年级完成情况和适龄年级升学情况呈正相关,但显然与SC/ST女孩的小学学习成绩无关。SC/ST女性在邦立法机构中的代表权可能会缩小印度小学教育中性别种姓差距。