Working Paper 03/2007: Gender and Corruption: Understanding and Undoing the Linkages

Policy-makers increasingly are seeking to ‘mainstream’ gender into anti-corruption initiatives by taking into account the implications that planned interventions have on women and men. Such considerations can lead to better designed and targeted policies to combat corruption. They can also create the space for civil society to become engaged and carry out more effective corruption monitoring, which contributes to improvements in policy formulation. However, research findings on the subject have varied over the years and there is still no clear consensus about the inter- relationship between gender and corruption. This paper will explore recent evidence on the topic in an attempt to determine whether and how women have an impact on — and are affected by — corruption.