Do Women in Politics Reduce Corruption or Does Corruption Deter Women from Entering Politics? Narayan Manandhar - Kathmandu Post
go to original June 27, 2016

There is a great degree of similarity between sex and corruption. Both take place in secrecy or privacy between consenting adults. However, when it comes to corruption, there is one thing that is astoundingly different. The track records of criminals everywhere tell us that there are more men than women inside a prison. Women are generally thought to be more honest and trustworthy; therefore, their increased participation in state affairs is expected to reduce corruption.

In fact, to combat corruption, countries like Mexico and Peru are taking dramatic measures like replacing male public officials with female ones. Cross-sectional research conducted by the World Bank in early 2000 revealed a significant positive correlation between women’s participation in parliament and lower corruption. However, researchers are baffled by the direction of causality: Is it women’s representation in parliament that is reducing corruption or is higher corruption deterring women from entering politics?

Workshop on corruption

Last month, the Quality of Governance Institute at University of Gothenburg, Sweden, organized an international workshop on gender and corruption. The purpose of the workshop was to unfold the confounding relationship that exists between gender and corruption. Speaking broadly, the workshop sought to address four questions: What is the meaning of corruption when it comes to the issue of gender?; what exact relationship exists between gender and corruption?; what do research results tell us about the relationship?; and what are the real world implications of such results?

A total 31 participants, predominantly academics, presented 21 research papers at the workshop. Their findings drew results from specific countries, longitudinal and cross-sectional research studies. The presentations covered both theoretical arguments and empirical results. The methodologies ranged from simple descriptive case analysis and experimental surveys to sophisticated regression models. The studies were carried out in a wide variety of settings to understand gender behavior in various contexts like different forms of corruption, at different levels of the state and bureaucracy, at different institutions covering different types of public service delivery and by different types of actors. The studies came from countries like Canada, the US, the UK, Tanzania, Nigeria, Russia, Spain, Mexico, Nepal, Tunisia, Morocco, Libya, and Jordan.

Read some of my takes from the workshop at Kathmandu Post

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