Gajwani, KiranZhang, Xiaobo2017-01-112017-01-112015-07World Bank Economic Review1564-698Xhttps://hdl.handle.net/10986/25841Using data from 144 village-level governments in India's Tamil Nadu state, we investigate political reservations for women and whether the gender of village government leaders influences the provision of village public goods. A knowledge test of village government presidents and a survey about the interaction between village presidents and higher-level officials reveal that female village government presidents have much lower knowledge of the village government system than do their male counterparts and have significantly less contact with higher-level government officials. Although male and female presidents provide similar amounts of some public goods, we find strong evidence that village governments led by a woman built fewer schools and roads—two public goods that require relatively more contact and coordination with higher-level officials.en-USCC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGOgenderpublic goods provisionlocal governancevillage governmentgender reservationsgender equalitygram panchayatsJournal ArticleWorld Bank10.1596/25841