Are women really the "fairer" sex? Corruption and women in government

Numerous behavioral studies have found women to be more trust-worthy and pu blic-spirited than men. These results suggest that women should be particul arly effective in promoting honest government. Consistent with this hypothe sis, we find that the greater the representation of women in parliament, th e lower the level of corruption. We find this association in a large cross- section of countries; the result is robust to a wide range of specification s. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.