 Vicky Randall, Legislative Gender Quotas and Indian Exceptionalism: The Travails of the Women¡¯s Reservation Bill Why did India¡¯s parliament repeatedly fail to enact the women¡¯s reservation bill, which would have reserved one-third of legislative seats for women. Explanations cite poor drafting of the bill, caste politics, weaknesses of the women¡¯s movements, and, simply, patriarchy. However, these explanations need to be supplemented by a comparative approach that draws on an expanding number of cross-national studies of gender quotas. These studies point to the important role of political parties and the electoral system, but in combination with the negative consequences of India¡¯s ¡°exceptional¡± democratic development. |