💨 Abstract

The study examines the impact of female politicians on environmental conservation in India, using changes in forest cover as a measure. It finds that in closely contested elections, female legislators do not significantly impact annual forest cover growth. However, in constituencies reserved for historically marginalized communities, such as the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes, a female politician wins in a close election against a male politician results in a 6 percentage points increase in yearly forest cover growth.

Courtesy: theprint.in