According to a recent research from Rice University, women in Mexican municipal politics are equally as corrupt as males.
The researchers looked at whether women elected to municipal government positions in Mexico are less corrupt than men and how corruption scandals affected women’s election to those positions. Their study was released in Comparative Political Studies.
Based on data from 2000 to 2019, Guajardo and Schwindt-Bayer discovered that female candidates for mayor in Mexico were more likely than male candidates to be elected after audits of municipal budgets revealed expenditure irregularities.
They contend that this happens as a result of stereotypes that women are more trustworthy, honest, and less corrupt than men, which lead parties and/or voters to favor women in the wake of corruption allegations.
However, the study also discovered that while in power, female mayors are just as corrupt as male mayors. The researchers discovered that women in office are equally as corrupt as men, if not more so, despite what voters and political parties may believe.
The researchers hypothesized that women may be motivated to engage in corruption as a result of Mexico’s political culture, which includes the reliance on parties to advance political careers. This is because women may feel the need to make up for their marginalized status and lack of political resources.
In Mexican politics, women have been discovered to be just as corrupt as males.
