Corruption is widespread in many countries and can lead to citizens becoming dissatisfied with their democratic institutions.
"That people vote for candidates who want to fight corruption is central to a well-functioning democracy, but there must also be credible candidates to choose from,” says Monika Bauhr, professor of political science.
Previous research shows that the more women there are in elected assemblies, the lower the levels of corruption. Political parties sometimes also recruit women to 'clean up' after a corruption scandal in an attempt to restore legitimacy and trust in politicians.
“We wanted to find out if the public thinks that female politicians are better equipped to fight corruption than male politicians, and it turns out that they do.” says Monika Bauhr.
Together with colleagues Nicholas Charron and Lena Wängnerud, she conducted an experimental study with over 48 000 participants in 25 EU countries. Participants read a description of a fictitious mayoral candidates' gender, age, risk propensity, previous political experience, and policy priorities in infrastructure, finance, education and health. Participants were also given information on the candidates' party affiliation. Based on this information, they were asked to indicate which of the fictitious candidates they thought would best at fighting corruption.
“Although party affiliation was the most decisive factor in participants' choice of mayor, the gender of the candidates played a significant role, especially in countries with high levels of political gender equality. A majority of participants stated that they would vote for a women candidate in order to fight corruption, and many choose to abstain entirely if the ballot contained only two male candidates.”
Women are often perceived to be more honest, more empathetic and more risk-avoiding than men. Previous research has shown that female politicians are more likely to take an interest in issues related to education and healthcare compared to male politicians. These are areas where female politicians have also traditionally had the highest credibility among the general public. These 'feminine' qualities were highly valued by survey participants.
Thus, the results show that female mayors are considered best placed to fight corruption, but that the credibility of both female and male politicians increased when they were attributed 'female' characteristics.
“Participants in the study preferred candidates, both women and men, who avoided unnecessary risks and prioritized social welfare issues over infrastructure projects, which in many countries are associated with high corruption risk. But male candidates generally had a harder time getting enough votes, especially from women voters,” says Monika Bauhr.
