The Effects of Gender on Corruption in Latin America

This paper examines whether the gender of a political leader in Latin America changes the level of corruption in the country. To understand if a female political leader brings changes to corruption in their respective countries, this paper will primarily examine the case of Argentina and the president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner to see if a difference in gender brings about a change in corruption. This paper will supplement its findings with data and information on other Latin American countries. The paper will first construct a theoretical framework to explain, how and why a female political leader might have a different effect on corruption than a male leader. This part of the study will focus on the effects that culture may have on female leaders policy and how the expectation of voters may change the way a female politician acts. The next part of the paper will focus on data analysis and seeing if corruption levels as well as if the policy and agendas of female politicians support the theories of the study. The goal of this paper is not only to see if a female political leader has a noticeable effect on decreasing corruption in a Latin American country, but also to explain why such a change would occur