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Corruption, accountability, and gender: Do female politicians face higher standards in public life?

Eggers, Andrew C.; Vivyan, Nick; Wagner, Markus

Corruption, accountability, and gender: Do female politicians face higher standards in public life? Thumbnail


Authors

Andrew C. Eggers

Markus Wagner



Abstract

Previous research suggests that female politicians face higher standards in public life, perhaps in part because female voters expect more from female politicians than from male politicians. Most of this research is based on observational evidence. We assess the relationship between accountability and gender using a novel survey vignette experiment fielded in the United Kingdom in which voters choose between a hypothetical incumbent (who could be male or female, corrupt or noncorrupt) and another candidate. We do not find that female politicians face significantly greater punishment for misconduct. However, the effect of politician gender on punishment varies by voter gender, with female voters in particular more likely to punish female politicians for misconduct. Our findings have implications for research on how descriptive representation affects electoral accountability and on why corruption tends to correlate negatively with women’s representation.

Citation

Eggers, A. C., Vivyan, N., & Wagner, M. (2018). Corruption, accountability, and gender: Do female politicians face higher standards in public life?. Journal of Politics, 80(1), 321-326. https://doi.org/10.1086/694649

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Aug 28, 2017
Online Publication Date Oct 25, 2017
Publication Date Jan 1, 2018
Deposit Date Aug 7, 2017
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Journal of Politics
Print ISSN 0022-3816
Electronic ISSN 1468-2508
Publisher The University of Chicago Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 80
Issue 1
Pages 321-326
DOI https://doi.org/10.1086/694649

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Copyright Statement
© 2017 by the Southern Political Science Association.





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