Corruption affects fair sex more: experts

LAHORE: Fair gender suffers more than men in a society where corruption is widespread, while women are less corrupt than men, social experts agreed on Saturday.
“All economists agree that poor suffer more because of the consequences of corrupt practices than affluent class,” said social worker Dr Kishwar Dhingra. “However, according United Nation statistics, 70 percent of these poor belong to the fair sex.
Being vulnerable because of poverty women are subjected to sexual extortion, using sex as an informal currency in which bribes are paid.
However, because of shame associated, these acts are not reported nor the monetary gains accrued measured.
Dhingra said corruption exacerbates gender inequalities because of its correlation with poverty, in short, “corruption is a tax on the poor.”
It creates additional barriers for women than men in the use of public services.
“Since family care comes under the domain of women, they experience corruption in enrolling siblings in schools or seeking health care facilities and even when participating in political activities.”
Another social worker Sofia Asif said women in Pakistan generally lack access to personal income and control over family resources, which handicaps them from availing state services that are made available only after greasing the palms of the service providers.
Inability of the poor families to pay bribes for instance results in denying large number of girls’ enrolment in schools. If resources are available they are spent on boys, she added.
Widespread corruption in a society also hampers women’ s ability to gain financial resources, such as accessing credit and conducting businesses, as they lack information, experience and resources to engage with corrupt networks. On the other hand, men by resorting to bribe can bypass the cumbersome process and complex legal requirements.
“The concerns of both the genders must be addressed and a course of action should be implemented to monitor anti corruption initiatives,” Sofia added.
She said a recent study has revealed that women are less susceptible to tolerate corruption in democratic contexts and more in autocratic context in comparison with men.
However, a social worker Naseer Ahmad has opposing views, “it has never been convincingly established that if opportunities are provided women would be less likely to indulge in corruption.”
If women are increasingly confronted with corruption, as they enter into the work force, take up senior management positions and achieve greater equality, there is no evidence to suggest that women will not participate in corruption that is prevalent in the system, he argued.
“In Pakistan there is no evidence of better revenue collection by women income tax or custom officers then men,” he said, adding Global Corruption Barometer 2013 of the Transparency International revealed that 27 percent of men and 22 percent of women report paying bribes to at least one institution.
Differences in social roles for men and women across various cultures play an important factor in their exposure to corruption, with a higher level of exposure in daily life likely results in higher tolerance for corruption, he added.
However, he agreed that social role of woman as a caretaker of young and older family members do make them averse to avoid corruption fearing greater that the loss of job would aggravate the family welfare instead of the shame associated with it.