Corruption, women participation, and economic development : evidence from G20

Abstract

Women's participation in the public sphere has been increasingly prominent and impactful, resonating across various macro and microeconomic domains. Gender- Corruption issues have been recently become the focus in empirical findings of scholars. This study aims to examine the effect of women participation in public space on corruption in G20 member countries between year 1995-2021, based on panel data analysis. Under the most relaxed assumption of the model i.e., fixed effect, the result concludes that countries with high inequality is associated by higher corruption level. However, a good governance indicated from their rule of law has significant impact on reducing the level of corruption, which indicated that the policies' role and commitment set by the government institution are essential especially for those of G20's developing countries. Furthermore, the impact of women participation in parliament does not necessarily reduce corruption. Both female labour force participation and senior-middle management have a positive effect to eradicate corruption level. While under fixed effect model, the impact of these variables dissipates, suggesting that country-specific characteristics may explain the variation in the corruption level. This study suggests that promoting women participation must be followed by institutions, norms, and culture to strengthen the effectiveness of law. Moreover, next agenda of G20's board meeting can be focusing on tracking the progress of Anti-Corruption Working Group because there is still gap between developed and developing countries in terms of corruption eradication policy to gain sustainable economic development.