Who Governs for Women? Gender Representation, Bureaucratic Leadership and Policy Responsiveness in Developing Countries

Although women's representation in legislatures has increased as never before, a seat is not a mandate to influence policies, and the relationship between representation and influence is not fully understood. While there is ample research on quotas and seat shares, research on how the presence of a quota leads to authority, and how authority leads to gender-responsive policy, is limited, especially in non-high income, democratic contexts and in political and administrative arenas. I wonder how women acquire the power to influence policy in four countries with very different party systems, administrative traditions and quota systems: Pakistan, Bangladesh, Rwanda and Indonesia. I analyze 15 semi-structured interviews with political actors, public officials, policy researchers and civil-society representatives, as well as constitutional, legal and policy documents from 2015 to 2025 in a qualitative comparative case design. Six findings emerge. Representation is necessary but not enough, institutional power is in-between, there's a non-electoral way to power, responsiveness to evidence and consultation is better when coupled with decisions and budgets, parties and informal networks are the sources of access to power, and civil society links institutions and women's experience. The formal design of each case is captured in the documents, but not in the interviews which focus on who is in charge in practice. The novelty of the article is on the mechanism for conversion (authority) and the segregation of political and administrative channels, and the separation of the design of institutions from their enactment. Policy should address mapping not counting women. Five propositions are presented for testing using greater comparisons and process tracing.