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Princeton, NJ
Indian American researcher Bhumi Purohit bagged the William Anderson Award 2023, presented annually by the American Political Science Association (APSA). The William Anderson Award is presented annually by the American Political Science Association (APSA) to honor the best dissertation in the general field of federalism or intergovernmental relations, state, and local politics.
Bhumi Purohit is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs with a joint appointment in the Department of Psychology. Her research examines the behavioral and institutional barriers to women’s political representation, as well as institutional barriers to public service delivery. Purohit’s research is based in India and motivated by questions such as: Why do women’s interests remain under-represented in politics, even with parity of electoral representation? How do gender biases about women politicians affect public service delivery outcomes in women’s constituencies?
In her dissertation, she examines this question by examining why and how bureaucracies create barriers for women once they are elected to office, particularly when bureaucrats sit at higher levels of office with the ability to strategically use discretion against lower-level politicians. In summer 2023, she will start as an Assistant Professor of Public Policy at Georgetown’s McCourt School.
Her first book titled,“Laments of Getting Things Done: Bureaucratic Resistance Against Female Politicians in India” presents a path-breaking examination of bureaucratic resistance to locally elected women politicians in India. It is the first study to systematically examine the gendered nature of bureaucratic resistance at the local level, three decades after decentralization reforms introduced quotas for women in local elections. Based on new survey data collated among local bureaucrats and female politicians, the thesis demonstrates that bureaucrats exhibit bias against elected female politicians, expecting them to be less effective in implementing policies, less able to organize local communities to pressure the state, and that female elected village heads are significantly more likely than their male counterparts to report bureaucratic resistance.
The committee includes Professor Louise Tillin of King’s College London, Dr Charles R. Hankla of Georgia State University, and Professor Sara Niedzwiecki of the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Dr Purohit said, “Bureaucratic resistance particularly impacts female politicians, and subsequently leads to worse public service delivery outcomes in their constituencies.”
