Raising Representation? Gender and Village Budgeting Reforms in Indonesia

In local development, male elites often dominate decision-making and implement policies that sideline women's preferences. This dissertation explores challenges and opportunities to increase the representation of women's interests in local development. It examines the gendered dimensions of participation in village community institutions and village budgeting and the stifling effects of elite capture on village policymaking. These issues are studied in the context of village governance in Indonesia, the world's third largest democracy. In particular, this dissertation evaluates the effects of a novel reform implemented in several Indonesian districts, designed to increase women's participation and the representation of women's preferences in village budgeting. This reform, called musyawarah inklusif, requires village governments to hold separate forums for women and other marginalized groups to submit proposals for village development plans and budgets. This dissertation leverages original data from surveys, survey experiments, and village planning documents to evaluate the effects of musyawarah inklusif and mechanisms that may contribute to its success or failure. Overall, this reform succeeds in amplifying the voices of women community leaders but fails to shift actual spending towards women’s priorities. The evidence shows how elite capture continues to constrain women's participation and the representation of women's preferences even after more women's proposals are submitted through the musyawarah inklusif process. This dissertation contributes to existing literature on gender and politics by identifying specific constraints and opportunities to improve substantive representation. The findings suggest that creating more opportunities for women representatives and other marginalized groups to participate in local governance can be insufficient to expand the substantive representation of their interests for two reasons. First, existing community leaders may continue to dominate participation in the separate consultations and propose different priorities than the preferences of excluded community members. Second, village heads may be reluctant to change their priorities when presented with new information or requirements related to women’s preferences and participation. Understanding these particular challenges may help design more effective reforms aimed at improving the representation of marginalized people's interests in local governance.PhDPublic Policy & Political ScienceUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/174465/1/eitanp_1.pd