The immediate post–Second World War period saw women gain equal
political rights in a number of countries, including France and India.
Political participation researchers began to consider women's
involvement in politics. However, because they focused on state
institutions and political parties as the most important sites of
political participation, and because the presence of women within these
sites was insignificant, the conclusions drawn were either that women
were uninterested in and/or uninformed about politics or that their
interest and knowledge derived from the male head of household.
Moreover, when women's political participation was considered, the
preferred location of study was the Western liberal democratic
nation–state (Dogan, 1955; Duverger, 1955).