Honest or Excluded? A Gender Analysis of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and Chicago City Council Defendants

This article analyzes two corruption data sets through the lens of gender: defendants convicted under the criminal anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corruption Practices Act, and defendants convicted of federal anti-corruption crimes while serving on the Chicago City Council. In both instances, the data points to a much larger number of convictions of men than women. While a single cause is difficult to pinpoint, perhaps the most compelling explanation is that social norms associated with gender provide women with fewer opportunities for corruption. By contrast, the homophily of patronage networks, long cited as breeding grounds for corruption, has for generations favored an old boys club that gives rise to more men engaging in corruption than women.