Do Female Politicians Increase Women's Political Involvement?

http://www.uic.edu/depts/econ/seminar_papers/singhal.pdf
In the study, "Does Women’s Electoral Victory Increase Political Participation and Success in Future Elections? Evidence from India," the authors investigated the causal relationship between women's success in elections and an increase in women's overall involvement in the political process. The study found that, on some level, seeing female candidates have success in local elections inspired other women to participate and run for office. However, this also produced a negative backlash in some areas where this same success caused an increase in gender discrimination against female candidates and politicians. Still, in the end the study concluded that successful female candidates increase the number of female candidates in subsequent elections by 12 percentage points.

When I read this article it occurred to me that citizens' reaction to women's success in elections isn't that much different than that of citizens in the United States. It seems to me that female candidates tend to be held to a higher standard than male political candidates on some level. Certainly high-profile candidates like Hilary Clinton and Sarah Palin have inspired a younger generation of women to enter politics. But at the same time, they have endured heavy criticism on everything from their hairstyle and clothes, to of course their stances on issues. If the positive affect of successful female politicians in India inspires more women candidates and greater female votershare, one would hope the same positive affect here in the U.S. will one day carry a female presidential candidate to the White House.