Sexual corruption, informal networks and female entrepreneurship: evidence from Burkina Faso

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Résumé

Sexual corruption occurs when public officials abuse their power to obtain sex or sexual favours. It is a hugely damaging yet underreported and understudied form of corruption that predominantly affects women and vulnerable people. This paper studies the impacts of sexual corruption on female entrepreneurs. It expands the literature on sexual corruption by examining how female entrepreneurs who participated in focus group discussions in Burkina Faso view sexual corruption and its impacts, and how they protect themselves. With the utilisation of an inductive approach, specifically, thematic analysis, we show that sexual corruption is a real and significant threat that female entrepreneurs face. Our findings point to the considerable risks that sexual corruption poses to female entrepreneurs. Predatory male civil servants make sexual demands when women are most desperate and at risk of financial ruin. Sexual corruption is facilitated by corrupt male-dominated informal networks. This is exacerbated by the direct physical contact required for most entrepreneurial activities, particularly in dealing with governmental and civil service officials. Our focus group participants identified several ways in which the risk of sexual corruption might be reduced. These included reducing physical contact between civil servants and the public across all sectors by promoting e-governance, and the encouragement of female-led associations.

Mots-clés

sexual corruption, women entrepreneurs, informal networks, public sector employees, sexual harassment, digital governance, gender and corruption, Burkina Faso