Women less likely to approve and participate in political corruption: Study

Women are less likely to approve and participate in political corruption as compared to men, in countries where corruption is stigmatized, according to a new study.

Researchers from Rice University found that women are less tolerant of corrupt behavior, but only in democratic governments, where appropriating public policy for private gain is typically punished by voters and courts

Lead author of the study titled, ''Fairer Sex' or Purity Myth? Corruption, Gender and Institutional Context', Justin Esarey said that the relationship between gender and corruption appears to depend on context adding that if 'corrupt' behaviors are an ordinary part of governance supported by political institutions, there will be no corruption gender gap.

Esarey theorized that many women feel bound by their society's political norms, including when they make decisions as government officials, which means that recruiting women into government would be unlikely to reduce corruption across the board.

The research was based on corruption at national level data on 157 countries between 1998 and 2007 and evaluation of attitudes toward corruption on an individual level in 68 countries, using data from the World Values Survey (WVS).