Women leaders find favour, but not votes in India, say Pew survey

Only a quarter of Indians say that men generally make better political leaders than women.

India has a long history of women holding political power — from the 1966 election of Indira Gandhi, one of the world’s first woman prime ministers, to other well-known figures, such as J Jayalalitha and Mamata Banerjee. A Pew survey done in 2019 and 2020 reflects this comfort with women in politics. Overall, a small majority of respondents express the opinion that, in general, women and men make equally good political leaders (55%). Some Indians (14%) even say women tend to make better political leaders than men. Only a quarter of Indians say that men generally make better political leaders