Politics has for a long time been a field for men and women have been locked out

for
centuries. The debate on the fitness and ability of females to be worthy political leaders
or opponents has been existent since time immemorial. A good number of
administrations and governments have for a long time thought males to be the dominant
parties in the political scene. Even during the colonial period, vey few females were
considered heroes of nationalism. This paper seeks to analyze if women politicians in
the government are less corrupt or less efficient leader.

Women in leadership’ is a phenomena that has obtained many attention over the past
couple of years. The question on the level of corruption of women comparing to men,
becomes in the heart of discussion on “gender and corruption”. Based on the 1999
report of the Word Bank according to which the governments with more female-
representation were often less likely to be corrupt due to the fact that women are “more
trust-worthy and public-spirited than men”. Women are seen to have less tolerance for
corruption than men because they believe there is more corruption in public sector as
well as in private ones. They also appear to be more vulnerable to punishment and the
risks involved in corruption due to explicit or tacit gender discrimination. As a result, they
feel greater pressure to conform to existing political norms about corruption. Therefore,
in professional settings, they are less likely to engage in corruption for fear of being
caught and losing their jobs. Laboratory corruption experiments confirmed this
hypothesis, finding that women tend to react more strongly to the risk of detection.
Evidence supports this hypothesis since countries that have made advances in gender
equality generally experience lower levels of corruption. Several studies analyzing the
relationship between social indicators, political representation and corruption find that
corruption is higher in countries where social institutions deprive women of their
freedom to participate in social and public life.

Leaders who are emotionally intelligent are better in identifying emotional needs of a
situation (Humprey et al., 2008). The ability of emotionally intelligence leads to
managing the emotions of oneself and their employees, can achieve a positive work
surrounding and leads to better employee performance and motivation (Eberly & Fong
2013, 709). On the other hand, women have a lack of authority and therefore women
are perceived as less competent leaders (Hippel et al. 2011, 1313). As a result women
seem less qualified for leadership positions (Hippel et al. 2011, 1313). According to
Powell, Butterfield & Parent (2002) Schein (1975, 1313) the masculine characterizes
such as assertiveness and self-reliance, are seen as indicators for effective leadership
style. Although research confirms women’s communication style leads to better
performance, research indicates women still seem to suffer under the gender-based
advantages of men.
Understanding the complex relationship between gender and corruption is therefore an
essential step towards furthering women’s rights and eventually levelling the playing
field between women and men. But women are not only victims of corruption; they are
also part of the solution. While evidence is inconclusive on whether women are less
corrupt than men, greater women’s rights and participation in public life are associated
with better governance and lower levels of corruption in many countries of the world.
Empowering women and promoting their participation in public life is essential to
address the gendered impact of corruption and level gender power imbalances and
inequalities.