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

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

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: Oct 25, 2018
• 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
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1371603