“We need to have much more proactive policies to include more women in the political process,” said Lakshmi Iyer, associate professor of economics and global affairs at the University of Notre Dame.
Iyer’s research focuses on development economics and political economy. She is currently examining the consequences of electing women to political office in India as well as why certain minority groups there do not get into leadership positions.
“If you have more women in political office, then there is a greater reporting of crimes committed against women to the police and the police also make more arrests for such crimes,” she said.
Iyer, who came to Notre Dame in 2016 after serving at the Harvard Business School, is now studying how to get more women into the candidate “pipeline” and how to get more women involved in leadership at the local level.
Iyer is thrilled to be doing this work at Notre Dame, citing the growing economics department, her co-appointment with the Keough School for Global Affairs, and the social mission of the University as factors in helping her work flourish.
“It ties in very well with the kind of issues I’m inspired by and the kinds of issues I want to do research on — development, tackling poverty, but also inclusion and how to bring more members of socially disadvantaged groups into the mainstream in many different ways,” she said.
You can also watch this video on YouTube.
Originally published by at al.nd.edu on October 12, 2017.