Rent-Seeking and Gender in Local Governance

The paper examines the relationship between corruption and gender in the context of local government in India, using a Logit model. Recent debates about women's participation in electoral politics suggests that the presence of more women in government will engender public policy, and also tends to reduce corruption. The evidence we examined indicates that gender is not a significant factor in explaining levels of corruption. Although nearly 40 per cent of the elective positions in the institutions of local government are occupied by women, there is no significant gender difference in attitudes towards rent-seeking or in actual levels of corruption between male and female representatives.