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Specifying the Conditions that Make Women Curb Corruption

Democracy
Gender
Women
Helena Stensota
University of Gothenburg
Helena Stensota
University of Gothenburg
Lena Wängnerud
University of Gothenburg

Abstract

Women representatives and lower levels of corruption seem to go hand in hand. However, research has become increasingly nuanced to the possibilities of gender to curb corruption. Empirical research has demonstrated a link between the proportions of women in government and levels of corruption in democratic-­‐leaning regimes, but not in autocratic-­‐leaning, regimes (Esarey and Chirillo 2013, p. 379). A similar result is found in research distinguishing between neo-­‐patrimonial states and states with a minimum level of good government (Agerberg, Sundström & Wängnerud 2014). Moreover, research focusing on different spheres of government; parliament vs. administration, shows that the expected effect of gender—that higher proportions of women is linked with lower levels of corruption—is more visible in the electoral than in the bureaucratic arena and that especially the organizational strength of the bureaucracy interacts with the number of women, so that the impact of gender on corruption becomes less, the more sharply marked off from its surroundings, the bureaucratic organization is (Stensöta & Wängnerud 2014). Our reading of the mechanisms pointed out in earlier empirical research, parts of which are our own studies, is that the impact of gender on corruption seems dependent on regime as well as sphere of government. Building on the empirical insights of previous research, we aim at theoretically making sense of the relationship between gender and corruption by clearly specifying the conditions that make women curb corruption. On regime level, the lowering influence of women on corruption seems to be mediated by the mechanisms of democracy. Moreover, it seems that the bureaucracy and especially the organizational strength of the bureaucracy, may occasionally lodge some of the curbing power of women on corruption. We will theoretically elaborate on the mechanisms at institutional level.