Background: Evidence from earlier studies on COVID-19 suggests that the countries led by female leaders were more successful in handling the COVID-19. Indian being patrilocal society evidence that woman’s political autonomy in autonomy in the Gram Panchayat do miracle concerning development. With this backdrop, the present paper aimed to explore the role of women’s political participation and leadership on the efficiency in combatting COVID-19 for Indian states. Methods: This predominantly empirical paper was entirely based on secondary data compiled from different sources. The empirical analysis of the paper was facilitated by the utilization of the Technical Inefficiency Effects model within the framework of Stochastic Production Frontier. The reciprocal of the death rate of COVID-19 was considered as the output variable. The health personnel and health infrastructures indicators were considered as inputs. Conversely, non-health determinants, including, women’s political leadership indicators were recognized as inefficiency effects variables. Results: The empirical result evidenced that West Bengal, a female-headed state became the second most efficient in the list followed by Karnataka. The empirical results accredited us to conclude that the efficiency of the Indian states to combat COVID-19 was highly influenced by female political participation and leadership, digitalization, urbanization, and literacy rate. Conclusion: The study expostulated for the women’s political autonomy. The study also advocated for the improvement of heath and non-health infrastructure for long-term benefit.
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