Replication Data for: Corruption, accountability and gender: do female politicians face higher standards in public life?

Previous research suggests that female politicians face higher standards in public life, perhaps in part because female voters expect more from female politicians than from male politicians. Most of this research is based on observational evidence. We assess the relationship between accountability and gender using a novel survey vignette experiment fielded in the UK in which voters choose between a hypothetical incumbent (who could be male or female, corrupt or uncorrupt) and another candidate. We do not find that female politicians face significantly greater punishment for misconduct. However, the effect of politician gender on punishment varies by voter gender, with female voters in particular more likely to punish female politicians for misconduct. Our findings have implications for research on how descriptive representation affects electoral accountability and on why corruption tends to correlate negatively with women's representation.

过往研究表明，女性政治家在公共生活中面临更高的行为标准，其部分原因或许在于女性选民对女性政治家的期待高于男性政治家。此类研究大多基于观测性证据。本研究采用一项在英国开展的新型调查情境实验（survey vignette experiment），通过让选民在一位假设的现任政治家（性别可为男/女，且存在腐败或无腐败两种情形）与另一候选人之间做出选择，以此评估问责性与性别之间的关联。本研究并未发现女性政治家会因不当行为受到显著更严厉的惩处。不过，政治家性别对选民惩处选择的影响因选民性别而异，其中女性选民尤其更倾向于因不当行为惩处女性政治家。本研究结果可为具象代表性（descriptive representation）如何影响选举问责性，以及腐败为何往往与女性代表比例呈负相关的相关研究提供理论启示。