There is evidence that corruption affects women and men differently and hits the poor and vulnerable groups the hardest, especially women, who represent a higher share of the world’s poor. But women are not only victims of corruption; they are also part of the solution. Greater female participation in political life is consistently associated with less corruption in many countries of the world. This has led some countries to promote women’s participation in political life as an anti-corruption tool. However, while few studies reject this correlation, there is no conclusive evidence that substantiate the underlying assumption that women will behave in ways that are less corrupt than men once they overcome barriers to political power. In fact, the mechanisms at play and the factors likely to support or inhibit the correlation between women’s political participation and reduced levels of corruption are not yet very well understood. There is no consensus on what effects to expect when the number of women in parliament, political parties or other political institutions increase and what women’s representation in political life is likely to affect and how.
At the same time, some studies have shown that corruption hinders women’s political representation and prevent them from accessing the leadership positions that would allow them to influence the policy debate. This is particularly true in corrupt contexts. In clientelistic environments, women are more likely to be excluded from male dominated election networks - often referred to as “old boy’s networks”-, which makes it more difficult for them to enter the political sphere.
This could represent a missed opportunity for the anti-corruption agenda. While very few studies specifically investigate the effect of women participation on anti-corruption policies, there is evidence that women’s political representation tends to influence policy outcomes, with greater investments in traditional women’s’ concerns such as child care, water provision, health and environment.
So what are the potential benefits of women’s political empowerment for the anti-corruption agenda? To which extent and under which circumstances are female politicians likely to champion anti-corruption issues? Are they likely to do things differently than male politicians once in political office? What are the factors that support or hamper their successful engagement in anti-corruption? What is likely to work (or not work) in engaging women female politicians in anti-corruption? These are some of the questions that this workshop will contribute to answer.
Drawing from cutting-edge research and forthcoming publications exploring the linkages between women political participation and corruption, leading experts and practitioners will present findings from recent studies, discuss the state of research on the topic and identify knowledge gap and further needs for research.
We hope that the discussions will contribute to bring the debate further and provide some element of answers to these questions, with the view to:
- raising awareness on the potential of engaging female politicians in anti-corruption
- improving our understanding on whether and under which circumstances female politicians are likely to support and engage in the fight against corruption
- identifying knowledge gaps and further research needs on the linkages between women political empowerment and anti-corruption
- informing interventions aimed at promoting female politicians’ leadership and engagement in anti-corruption
- bringing together academic experts and practitioners to bridge the gap between academic research and practitioners’ knowledge needs
