ReviewPolitical reservations and women's entrepreneurship in India

- We analyze India's political reservations for women and the manufacturing sector.
- There is a substantial increase in women's entrepreneurship after reservations.
- This increase is disproportionate in traditional industries for women.
- This increase is disproportionately small scale and household-based.
- There are limited to no gains for wage workers in manufacturing.

We quantify the link between the timing of state-level implementations of political reservations for women in India with the role of women in India's manufacturing sector. While overall employment of women in manufacturing does not increase after the reforms, we find significant evidence that more women-owned establishments were created in the unorganized/informal sector. These new establishments were concentrated in industries where women entrepreneurs have been traditionally active and the entry was mainly found among household-based establishments. We measure and discuss the extent to which this heightened entrepreneurship is due to channels like greater finance access or heightened inspiration for women entrepreneurs.