Political Cleaners: Women as the New Anti‐Corruption Force?

Abstract

There is currently a myth in the making: that women are less corrupt than men. Recently some aid donors have cited statistical evidence that countries with larger numbers of women in politics and in the workforce have lower levels of corruption. That this finding can be explained by the fact that there are more women in politics and the workforce in liberal democracies that are anyway less corrupt than poorer less liberal regimes does not detract from the eagerness with which some development actors are seizing upon the potential role women might play in fighting corruption. The myth of women's incorruptibility is not, of course, new. It is grounded in essentialist notions of women's higher moral nature and an assumed propensity to bring this to bear on public life, and particularly on the conduct of politics. After demonstrating that some of the recent studies about gender and corruption record perceptions about propensities to engage in corrupt behaviour, this contribution suggests rather that the gendered nature of access to politics and public life shapes opportunities for corruption. In addition, corruption can be experienced differently by women and men, which has implications for anti-corruption strategies. A gendered analysis of corruption is in fact a useful entry-point to the examination of the gendered nature of accountability failures, and of gender-specific gaps in current attempts to promote good governance. ). Her research interests are in gender and good governance, with a particular focus on gender-sensitive accountability systems.

Engaging in corruption: The influence of cultural values and contagion effects at the microlevel

“…Alhassan-Alolo (2007) finds using data on hypothetical scenarios that females did not exude higher ethical standards than men and argues that women may not necessarily prove to be less corrupt than men when exposed to environments characterized by corrupt opportunities and networks. A similar argument can be found in Goetz (2007).…”

Firm Efficiency, Foreign Ownership and CEO Gender in Corrupt Environments

“…For example, Goetz (2007) suggests that greater female participation in government is associated with lower corruption and is driven by the relative exclusion of women from networks traditionally dominated by men. Women are also found to be less likely to be asked for a bribe (Mocan, 2008).…”

Yo prefiero al corrupto el perfil de los ciudadanos que eligen políticos deshonestos pero competentes

“…Si es cierto que las mujeres participan menos 12 Según Redlawsk y McCann, las mujeres y los ciudadanos más mayores aplican la etiqueta de corrupción a un mayor número de comportamientos políticos aunque estos no sean estrictamente ilegales (2002). 13 Otros autores defi enden que esta relación es espuria y que está causada por los efectos de la democracia liberal (igualdad de género y mejor gobernanza) y no por la mayor presencia de mujeres (Sung, 2003;Goetz, 2007). en actividades corruptas es lógico pensar que tampoco apoyarán actividades de este tipo.…”

“…13 Other authors hold that this relationship is spurious and that it is caused by the effects of liberal democracy (gender equality and better governance), and not by the greater presence of women (Sung, 2003;Goetz, 2007 Age also has an impact on justifying corruption. In a longitudinal study using data from eight European countries, Torgler and Valev (2006) found that, after controlling for the cohort effects, young people under 30 are more likely to perceive corruption as a justifi able fact than citizens over that age.…”