Gender equality and prospects for good governance
The study argues that differences in men’s and women’s engagement with corruption and clientelism stem from unequal access to political networks, rather than from inherent or socialised traits. It finds that women’s exclusion from political connections limits their participation and access to clientelist exchanges, suggesting that gender equality alone is insufficient to reduce such practices.
-
Bryant-Phillips-Prillaman-Policy-Brief-July-2025.pdf
PDF document • 901.95 KB
- Women’s greater representation in politics has been shown to be correlated with more accountable governance, but many theories to explain this relationship rely upon gender essentialism.
- We find that gendered differences in engagement with corruption and clientelism are better explained by differences in men’s and women’s access to politics than by differences in their nature or socialisation.
- We examine how the structure of political connections within villages perpetuates both the gender gap in political participation and clientelist practices.
- We find that women have significantly fewer political connections than men and that men do not consider women important political actors. Men are both more central and more influential in village politics, while women exist largely on the periphery of village politics. Exclusion from political connections is associated with women’s lower political participation.
- As a result of women’s limited political connections, women also have significantly less access to networks that support the clientelistic exchange of votes for preferential access to goods and services.
- However, once women’s political participation levels are accounted for, the gender gap in clientelism reverses. Women who participate in politics at an equal level to men are more likely to receive vote-buying offers.
- Consistent with the idea that access is a binding constraint, there is a latent demand among women overlooked by political brokers, who report a substantially greater willingness than men to engage in such clientelist practices. And among men and women with the same access to clientelist networks, practices are very similar.
- Ultimately, our findings suggest that limited opportunities may drive observed differences in the practice of clientelism across genders, so that gender equality alone is unlikely to reduce clientelist exchange.