Women and Corruption: What Positions Must They Hold to Make a Difference?

This paper examines the precise role: whether it is the bribe-taking role, the decision-making or policy making role, in which womenâs presence can have an impact on corruption. It is the first paper in the gender and corruption literature to use an IV approach for addressing endogeneity concerns. We provide robust evidence that womenâs presence in parliament has a causal and negative impact on corruption, while other measures of female participation in economic activities are shown to have no effect. We draw inferences based on Moreiraâs (2003) conditional likelihood ratio approach. We also briefly examine the potential channels through which women as parliamentarians can affect corruption, and whether women are likely to become as corrupt as men as they gain similarity in social status.