Corruption, Gender and Accountability : A quantitative assessment of gender and attitudes towards corruption in Swedish municipalities

Previous research has shown that there is a negative relationship between female elected officials and corruption in democracies. Especially in high accountability settings where corruption is stigmatized, it makes female elected officials more risk averse as a result of higher probability of being held accountable. Through a quantitative approach, this thesis examines the relationship of gender and corruption on the individual level in Swedish municipalities. To investigate if there are any differences in attitudes towards corruption among female and male local politicians, and what might cause that difference, a survey answered by local politicians from all the 290 municipalities in Sweden was used. The results showed that there is a difference in attitudes towards corruption, female local politicians seem to be more negative than their male counterparts. Female local politicians also seem to become even more negative in their attitudes towards corruption if the accountability is higher. The explanation could be that female local politicians are more risk averse than male local politicians in Swedish local councils, as the same attitude could not be found for them. However, these findings cannot exclude that other explanations can be important for the relationship between gender and attitudes towards corruption. Nevertheless, this thesis gives a starting point for further research of the connection between the individual level of attitudes towards corruption, gender and accountability in Swedish municipalities.