Berlin, 07. March 2008 – Are women less corrupt than men?

A simple answer would be: no. A more complex one would be: we do not know yet.

Correlations between decreasing corruption levels and the growing involvement of women in politics can not be confirmed. Research seems to rather point to the fact that women have fewer resources as well as less access to institutions or networks where corruption occurs and therefore less opportunities for paying bribes. It can not be taken for granted that women will be less corrupt than men or not form their own networks, once they have reached a higher level of representation at leadership level in society, politics and business. The Global Corruption Barometer, published in December 2007, surveyed nearly 64,000 respondents in over 60 countries on their experiences of corruption. According to the Barometer, women were less likely to pay a bribe than men. Men reported more contact with institutions and services, such as the police and judiciary, where demands for bribery are more likely to occur.

How does corruption affect women? Women are affected disproportionately by corruption when it comes to taking part in decision-making, the protection of rights or the control over resources. Corruption reduces public revenue, often resulting in lower quality or less provision of social services. As women are the primary users of these services, they are particularly affected.

Transparency International (TI) is seeking further engage with gender-related issues. Many of TI’s projects and programmes already directly address these issues, for instance by seeking transparency in the funding of political party donations, or by raising awareness of decision-making processes. Some of TI's major tools for corruption analysis, such as the Global Corruption Barometer, extrapolate and analyse gender-relevant data. TI aims to reinforce these efforts to ensure gender-neutral anti-corruption work.