Topic Guide: Gender

Fighting corruption can improve women’s opportunities and quality of life. Countries with higher gender equity, experience lower levels of corruption, while gender inequity provides fertile ground for corruption through old boy networks. As gender equity and anti-corruption are closely intertwined and mutually reinforcing, considering the gendered dimensions of corruption can help design effective anti-corruption mechanisms. 

While it is important to involve men, because they are more aware of how the system functions and are usually in roles of power and responsibility[1], there is a growing consensus on the crucial importance of involving women in public life, including but not limited to anti-corruption and the design of gender responsive and gender sensitive anti-corruption policies. In addition, as women play a key role in shaping the value system of any society and of future generations, in particular through raising their children, they have an important contribution to make in building sustainable integrity systems[2].

A number of steps can be taken to mitigate the gendered impact of corruption and promote public policies that address both gender inequities and corruption. Forms of corruption that affect women most, such as sexual extortion and human trafficking, should be recognised as such and should be dealt with in a specific area of anti-corruption efforts. As petty corruption at the point of service delivery affects women more in their role as care givers and, by extension, denies them and their families access to essential public services, it should also be an important focus of gender sensitive anti-corruption. More specifically, actions can include:[3]

• Collecting reliable gender disaggregated data. Policy-makers need to be better informed about the different ways in which corruption affects men and women differently (as well as other groups), to design targeted and more effective anti-corruption policies.

• Awareness-raising on the differential gender impact of corruption. Policy-makers need to become aware and to understand the gendered impact of corruption to design policies that address women and men’s specific concerns and experiences.

• Mainstreaming gender into anti-corruption programmes. Anti-corruption programming should integrate a gender equality dimension by taking into account the respective impact of anti-corruption programmes on women and men at the programme design stage. As part of such approaches, targeted anti-corruption policies should be combined with efforts to empower women in governance. This can be achieved through building the capacity of government, civil society, and media.

• Promoting women’s participation in public and political life. Women’s engagement in anti-corruption efforts cannot only contribute to improved integrity and accountability but also contribute to building governance systems that are more responsive to women’s needs. Women’s groups, including grassroots groups, are important allies in the fight against corruption and the design of gender sensitive anti-corruption strategies.

• Capacity building and institutional support of women leaders. Women are often newcomers in decision-making circles and public life and often lack the necessary experience to make a difference. In many countries where political quotas are applied, capacity building and institutional support are necessary for making women’s participation more effective. In India, for example, a study of the impact of female leadership on the governance of a large public programme found more inefficiencies and leakages and vulnerability to bureaucratic capture in village councils headed by women. As women accumulated management and political experience, governance improved, and the governance of the programme was significantly better in female headed councils than in other councils[4].

• Gender sensitive reporting mechanisms. It is also important to strengthen women’s voices and empower them to report corruption and demand accountability. Complaint mechanisms should be transparent, independent, accountable, accessible, safe, easy to use and, most importantly, gender sensitive. In some cultures, for example, girls will not complain to men. A study conducted in India found that women were more likely to report corruption in councils headed by women, which tend to indicate that presence of a women leader strengthens women’s voices.

• Promoting participatory and gender responsive budgeting. Resource allocation at the country level needs to adequately reflect gender specific concerns and priorities and ensure that expenditures benefit those who need it most. Women also need to be involved in the budget process, from budget planning, implementation, reporting and oversight to ensure that the budget adequately reflects their concerns. Their capacity may need to be improved for them to have a meaningful contribution in the budgeting process.

• Integrating women in the labour force of public services. Some countries have promoted the feminisation of the workforce as a strategy to curb corruption, with some success. While women’s education and participation in the labour force should be promoted as ensuring women’s rights and not as only an anti-corruption strategy, women’s engagement in anti-corruption efforts contributes to both improving integrity and accountability. For example, the increased representation of women teachers has contributed to reducing gender-based violence and sexual extortion in school systems and provides positive role models for young women, resulting in improved performance in school enrolment and dropout rates.[5] In Peru, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, a women-only traffic police force was established in Lima with some effect on reducing corruption[6].

• Gender sensitive reporting mechanisms. It is also important to strengthen women’s voices and empower them to report corruption and demand accountability. Complaint mechanisms should be transparent, independent, accountable, accessible, safe, easy to use and, most importantly, gender sensitive. In some cultures, for example, girls will not complain to men. A study conducted in India found that women were more likely to report corruption in councils headed by women, which tend to indicate that presence of a women leader strengthens women’s voices.