Gender and corruption: testing the new consensus

The search for a sustainable anti-corruption strategy has seen a number of reform ideas introduced into the public sector of many African countries by the development community. But the failure of previous anti-corruption strategies has led to the promotion of women in the public sector as a potential anti-corruption remedy. This nascent idea is premised on presumptions that women are more ethical than men. However, failure of previous anti-corruption strategies begs legitimate questions: would women prove less corrupt when exposed to environments characterised by corrupt opportunities and networks? Would women maintain high ethical standards in the public realm when social obligations require certain acts of corruption? This article uses primary data from Ghana to address these questions. It concludes that women may not prove less corrupt in the public sector if corrupt opportunities and networks are not restrained. Also, the very gender system, which is used to justify women's proclivity to less corrupt behaviour and subsequent integration into the public sector, could itself be the source of corruption as women attempt to fulfil their gender roles.