Claims that a higher percentage of women in top positions reduces corruption have turned into a stereotype, but studies show that the reasons for this are not gender-related, but rather social and cultural in nature.
Women are not immune to greed, scientists assert. They emphasize that women will more easily attain high office in open and democratic political systems, and such societies generally suffer less from irregularities, abuse of power, and corruption. A higher number of women in top positions does not directly reduce corruption, but it indirectly influences it by improving the quality of governance, which then reduces corruption. A study from Lima, the capital of Peru, showed that the perception of corruption in the traffic police sharply fell in 2012 when 2,500 women were employed.
India has also noticed changes since the 1994 law that reserved 30 percent of seats in village councils for women. The World Bank’s annual report for 2012 showed that a higher number of women in Indian village councils brought positive changes: better access to drinking water, improved sanitary conditions, and better functioning of schools and other public services, which certainly contributed to reducing corruption.
The World Bank report states that in Indian villages where the head of the municipality is a woman, bribery has decreased by between 2.7 to 3.2 percent compared to villages governed by men. When power is in the hands of men, money is likely to be directed towards larger projects, such as road construction where there are greater opportunities for corruption, rather than smaller works like schools or clinics.
Mahnaz Afkhami, former Minister for Women’s Affairs in Iran (from 1975 to 1978), assesses that a higher number of women in top positions is an opportunity for women’s voices to be heard, which already contributes to better governance in the government. A good example of this is Nicaraguan Aurora Arauz, who was outraged by a local councilor when he asked her for a sexual favor in exchange for repairing a metal roof. Arauz reported him to the city council, and he was expelled, while the Council appointed Arauz as the coordinator of the committee for improving services for women. All these examples support the World Bank study from 1999, which showed that a higher number of women in public office reduces corruption.
However, corruption decreases at lower levels, but not at higher ones, claims Sri Mulyani Indrawati, the first Minister of Finance in Indonesia. Women at local levels think more about childcare: schooling, nutrition, healthcare, while men are less burdened by these issues. At the national level, however, it is not so, Indrawati claims, and other experts agree with her.
This is also confirmed by survey results. Today, 20.2 percent of women are representatives in national parliaments worldwide, which is more than double compared to 1987, yet corruption is not declining. According to a Gallup poll in 140 countries, two-thirds of the adult population believes that corruption is widespread in their homelands. Furthermore, the differences in corruptibility between women and men are also explained by women’s caution.
Two behavioral studies from 2003 and 2008 show that women are willing to take bribes just like men, but they are more cautious because they do not want to risk being caught ‘with their hands in the cookie jar.’
A study from two universities, Rice and Emory, supports the thesis that corruption is linked to governance structures, and women adapt to these structures. Thus, in autocratic regimes where a strong male hierarchy is in place, a woman will reach the highest office with the help of a male protector and will remain silent about corruption. In democratic societies, on the other hand, the influence of women on corruption is positive.
This could explain why corruption in a patriarchal culture like India’s is so entrenched despite increased participation of women in politics, while it is weaker in Nordic countries.
