Vol. 7, Issue 2, Part G (2025)

The political attitudes of women are a very serious indicator of how they have been empowered and included in the democratic processes. In the developing democracies such as India, political participation of women is still a developing issue influenced by social-cultural beliefs, education, and access to information. The proposed research investigates the factors of political attitudes of women among higher education institution (HEI) students and faculty in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (ANI) a geographically isolated and socio-culturally diverse Union Territory of India. The study will examine Political Awareness (PA), Political Interest (PI), Media Influence (MI) and Perception of Gender Equality (PGE) as the independent variables, and Political Attitude (PAT) as the dependent variable.

A stratified random sampling technique was used to administer a structured questionnaire on 420 women in five HEIs. Analytical software was the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings indicate that PA and PGE have the most positive influence on PAT and PI and MI have moderate influences but significantly important. The model used to explain the political attitudes of women had a 39% variance (R 2 = 0.39). The results highlight the fact that increased education and gender equality perception have a significant positive effect on civic engagement and democratic participation of women in periphery areas. The paper ends by providing the policy implications in fostering gender-sensitive education on politics, civic awareness, and representative governance.