New research from the University of St Andrews has found that increases in women’s parliamentary representation within a country are related to enhanced public trust in the national parliament.
Published today (Friday 19 December) in the Routledge Handbook of Gender and Corruption, researchers from the University of St Andrews Business School analysed data on trust in parliament from the Integrated Values Surveys, a uniquely comprehensive dataset covering 107 countries from 1990 to 2022 and more than 492,000 individual responses.
The results show a link between greater women’s representation and trust in parliament within countries. This relationship is statistically significant and takes account of variation in corruption levels, democratic quality, electoral systems, economic development, and key individual characteristics such as sex, age, education, and employment status.
Crucially, the analysis finds no comparable effect from having a female head of government, suggesting that it is broad representation within parliament, rather than the presence of a single high-profile female leader, that drives trust-building effects.
In short, when the share of women in parliament rises over time, citizens of both sexes are more trusting of their legislative institutions.
Researchers also found that in contexts where women remain underrepresented, increases in their presence in parliament could make the institution appear fairer, more inclusive, and more representative, which enhanced its perceived legitimacy.
The new analysis also highlights public perceptions that women politicians are more honest and less corrupt than men. Under this view, increasing women’s share gradually raises the proportion of parliamentarians who are perceived as more trustworthy, generating a steady and linear increase in confidence. The results are consistent with this latter explanation, suggesting that trust rises continuously as expectations of cleaner, more ethical governance become stronger.
Lead author, Dr Erven Lauw from the University of St Andrews Business School, said: “The implications of these findings are significant. Trust is essential for institutional legitimacy, policy compliance, cost-effective governance, and political stability. The research shows that increasing women’s representation provides dual benefits: it advances democratic fairness by improving political inclusiveness, and it generates broader governance gains by elevating public trust.”
She added: “Enhancing representation is therefore not only a normative commitment to equality but also a practical strategy for strengthening democratic institutions.”
The most recent Inter-Parliamentary Union data indicate that the United Kingdom currently stands at around 36% women’s representation across both parliamentary chambers, well below parity. The UK therefore trails behind countries that have achieved or exceeded 50% representation, including Rwanda, Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Australia, Mexico, Andorra, and the United Arab Emirates—most of which have legislated quotas or reserved seats. This is particularly pertinent given the long-term decline in trust in British politics, with the UK’s most recent average trust score falling below the global average.
A possible implication of the research is that increasing women’s representation in the UK all else equal could be a powerful yet underused mechanism for rebuilding confidence in Westminster. Institutional reforms that enable greater descriptive representation may indirectly foster trust in parliament by making it more reflective of the citizenry it serves.