Corruption and gender perceptions in Latin America and the Caribbean

Abstract

What factors lead to the support of female political candidates in the Latin American and Caribbean region? I focus on one part of this broader question by examining the relationship between gender stereotypes and perceptions of corruption, in order to better understand some of the factors that influence support for female candidates. For this thesis, I use data from the 2012 AmericasBarometer survey to test a series of hypotheses. Ultimately, I find mixed results for the hypotheses. My analysis of the data indicates the average Latin American and Caribbean citizen perceives women as less corrupt than men and that as perceptions of corruption increase, seeing women as less corrupt increases. The regression analysis also reveals that when men are perceived as less corrupt than women the relationship between perceiving corruption as common and believing men make better political leaders than women is significant. Lastly, on average, I find that women do not perceive corruption to be more pervasive as compared to men.