Research and policy agenda for gender and corruption

The prevailing gaps in research, policy and practice in gender and anti-corruption programming present varied opportunities for making gender visible in anti-corruption research, policy, and practice.

Enhancing understanding of the interplay between gender, norms, and corruption

Limited understanding exists regarding:

1. Which underlying social norms shape how corruption and gender interact.
2. How these norms shape the relationship between gender and corruption.
3. Whether there are positive social norms that can be leveraged to mitigate corruption and its negative gendered impacts.

Research can uncover how gendered social norms shape corruption and explore ways of making such norms a central component of corruption analysis and anti-corruption strategy. There is also an opportunity to strengthen the intersectional lens in research and analysis to capture how gender-diverse groups are affected by the interaction between social norms and corruption. By building clarity around the linkages between social norms and corruption, practitioners and policymakers can design interventions that seek to transform negative norms and leverage positive norms to address corruption.

Evaluating ongoing efforts to address sexual corruption

Criminalising sexual corruption is often regarded as necessary to address the problem. However, there is some divergence in legal opinions on whether criminalisation is the answer, or whether the problem requires tailored, context-specific responses. There is a need to map and analyse best practices from existing case law, administrative responses such as those in the UN system for sexual exploitation and abuse, and approaches by alternative justice systems, to build a case for universal recognition and criminalisation of sexual corruption. It is also important to explore in depth how sextortion plays out in fragile and conflict-affected contexts, where precarity and insecurity are more pronounced.

Adopting intersectional approaches to data collection and analysis

Anti-corruption research is still plagued by a lack of comprehensive empirical, primary, interdisciplinary, and sex-disaggregated data capturing the nuanced linkages between the two phenomena. Quantitative and qualitative data regarding the social, legal, and political landscape as well as the lived experiences of women, men, and gender-diverse groups is needed to understand the nuanced relationship between gender and corruption, and to provide a basis for evidence-based gender responsive anti-corruption policies and programmes.

It is also important that gender and anti-corruption data systems and practices are designed for the protection and empowerment of the most vulnerable people in society. Intersectional approaches to data collection and analysis will promote equity across the data value chain and ensure that data systems are inclusive.

Regular global sex-disaggregated data is needed to identify where sexual corruption occurs (eg in which sectors or institutions), in which situations it is most likely to happen, and who is most affected by it – particularly in (post) conflict environments.

Legislative and policy gaps

Access to justice for women and other minoritised groups who are harmed by corruption remains a daunting challenge across the world. Sexual corruption is particularly under-prosecuted due to systemic inadequacies in policy and legal frameworks and systems. We need robust and context appropriate laws to enable successful prosecution and other appropriate remedies. This can be attained through collaboration among civil society, government officials, legislators, and judiciaries.

Addressing the challenges in access to justice necessitates legal reforms to establish safe, accessible, confidential, and gender-sensitive mechanisms for reporting and trying cases of sexual corruption. Targeted and tailored training in gender-sensitive adjudication for judicial officers is also crucial to foster an environment for effective prosecution of gendered forms of corruption.

There are good practices in this regard from Kenya and Uganda on gendering pathways to justice for sensitive cases related to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) through establishing victim centred special SGBV Courts staffed with specially trained judicial officers. Judicial officers presiding over the specialised courts are trained on the intricacies related to SGBV, including survivors’ needs and are equipped to handle the complexities of such cases with utmost sensitivity.

The specialised SGBV courts are in addition supported by Special police units or designated officers who respond to and record cases of violence against women (Ntaganda 2012). The process, including victims’ interface with police and courts of law, is tailored to embody a trauma-informed approach that prioritises the victims’ safety, dignity, and privacy. An integration of similar gender sensitive and victim centred approaches to justice will facilitate the prosecution of gendered forms of corruption.