Women and Corruption: Navigating the Complex Interaction of Gender Norms and Social Norms

Isaac Oritogun (PIC) and Diana Chigas (CJL)
Jul 5
6 min read

Updated: Aug 23

A conversation between Isaac Oritogun (Senior Research Advisor, PIC) and Diana Chigas (Co-Director, CJL)

Being the family breadwinner when jobs, money, and resources are scarce is complicated. And more so if you’re a woman.

When social norms drive people’s corrupt behaviors, do different people experience them differently because of social expectations associated with their other social identities — like gender, religion, ethnicity, age, or geography? Back in 2022, based on experiences in Uganda and DR Congo, and research by Chatham House on social norms driving corruption in Nigeria, CJL hypothesized, that yes, this was the case, and that it needed to be taken into account in social norms change programming. Developing this line of thought, CJL and the Policy Innovation Centre (PIC) have collaborated to explore this question further. Together, we researched how gender and faith norms interact with social norms to drive the practice of informal (under-the-table) payments by health workers and patients in primary healthcare centers in three states in Nigeria (Ebonyi, Kano, and Nasarawa states).

After this fascinating study, we invited Isaac Oritogun (IO), Senior Research Advisor at PIC and coordinator of the fieldwork for the study to speak with CJL Co-Director Diana Chigas (DC), to give us a sneak preview of some of the study’s outcomes. While the conversation covered the whole study, in this post we highlight one of the more unexpected findings –– related to how gender norms and social norms intersect to influence health workers’ decisions to solicit or accept informal payments. (Hint: Women are not necessarily less corrupt: as they enter the workforce more, they experience more pressure to solicit informal payments because of expectations from their families and communities to provide.)

DC: So you found that it’s common for health workers to ask for or accept informal payments from patients to give them access to health services that are supposed to be free. Can you give us some of the reasons that they engage in this practice?

IO: Well, these healthcare workers are poorly remunerated. [I]n a country where there’s a very high level of unemployment, if you have something that pays you just a little, you’re better than the person who is unemployed. Sometimes what you earn might not be enough. Second is the fact that they [health workers] also feel they’re doing it for the good of the clients. This is a way of justifying what they do: they say for example, “Oh, it’s just an extra pay to go buy these drugs that will help you”. The problem is, these payments are not monitored. So we do not know if those monies really meet the needs that they are supposed to. This also highlights the big problem of underfunding of the healthcare sector.

DC: Can you say more about how social norms motivate health workers to solicit or accept these payments?

IO: We saw [norms] within the health facility and outside the health facility. Within the health facility there is an understanding that this is a practice, and it is common in the health facility. And there are consequences for not adhering to them — one of which is that you might be sidelined, pushed away, or even punished — through the refusal of promotions and benefits.

DC: And I recall there were also family and community norms in addition to norms among health workers? Can you say how some of those work with the health workers?

IO: There's a saying that goes: 'In the land of the blind, a one-eyed man is king.' In the land where there's unemployment, one who has just a little is king. So aside from low salaries, underfunding, and supply gaps, there is this extra pressure on you to meet the needs of your family members. Most of it will be in the way of contributing to their daily welfare or contributing to special activities within the community or within the family, like weddings, funerals, and community services. So there’s that extra pressure that earning money puts on you as a health worker or government worker more broadly. You should be able to do more to meet needs.

DC: Now, let’s talk about gender norms and how they affect those social norms? What did you find?

IO: The gender norms landscape is changing. Women are also now breadwinners, and that is also influencing female health workers’ behaviors around informal payments. Before now, the expectation was that as a woman you’re primarily at home. Your husband meets your needs. Now with going out to work comes the responsibility of meeting the home front needs as well as community expectations. So the woman also feels pressured. And it’s complicated because this is where we see certain social norms and gender norms competing. It's a gender double bind. As breadwinners, female health workers, like men, are under enormous pressure to provide, but at the same time they are also expected to be kind and caring and honest. These tensions might make them more reluctant to boldly solicit a bribe, and to possibly go about it in a more covert way. Unlike men, who are expected to behave more aggressively and assertively.

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DC: So how do women resolve this double bind?

IO: So we saw that the way in which it is practiced, and the way they [women and men] are perceived, is different. We found that women engaging in these practices weren’t as forceful. A female health worker might just say, “if you don’t have it, well, I can let it go. Sometimes we just pity our patients. We also go home with nothing; that’s our cross.” But a male health worker might say, “if you don’t have it, then I’m sorry, I cannot provide the service.” So you see that women are more caring even in engaging in the practice, and they are perceived that way … Clients said they would rather go to a woman than a man because of this.

DC: Of course, and that has implications for anti-corruption programming and social norms change?

IO. Yes it does. There’s no silver bullet. The first thing is to acknowledge that there is a norm shift happening for women especially. They are not just homemakers or caregivers anymore; they are providers and decision makers too who are also under pressure. So government and practitioners must stop viewing informal payments as an enforcement or ethics issue. They must also view it as a social expectation and a gender identity issue and sensitize health workers, especially women, to address the challenges they face —not just the structural issues but also the complex web of expectations social pressures face around gender, religious, professional, and community life. Meaning that anti-corruption efforts must be multi-layered.

It’s important also to work with the key reference groups of the health workers who influence their behaviors — from community leaders and husbands and mothers-in-law to heads of health facilities — and they can be different in each community, as well as for men and women. Until these groups also shift their expectations, health workers will continually be caught in the web of maintaining moral standards and satisfying social expectations within and outside the family.

Where can I learn more?

Our research findings report explores in greater depth how social, gender, and faith-based norms influence informal payments and corruption in service delivery.

On July 31, 2025, Besa Global and PIC hosted a joint webinar on July 31 exploring findings from the research and discussing how these insights can inform more effective, context-sensitive anti-corruption programming. Watch the webinar recording here!

This blog is made possible with support from the MacArthur Foundation.

Isaac Oritogun is a Senior Research Advisor at the Policy Innovation Centre in Nigeria, where he specializes in social and gender norms and development. He has over a decade of experience in research, monitoring, and evaluation, with a strong focus on generating evidence to inform development practice. He holds a Master’s degree in Sustainable Development Practice and Public Health.

In his role at PIC, Isaac coordinates and conducts field research, supports the development of research methods, and leads data analysis. His work contributes to a deeper understanding of how social and gender norms influence behaviour and outcomes in development contexts.

Diana Chigas is a Co-Director at The Corruption, Justice and Legitimacy Program. She is the Senior International Officer and Associate Provost at Tufts University and a Professor of the Practice of International Negotiation and Conflict Resolution at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. She has worked with governmental and non-governmental organizations on systemic conflict analysis, strategic planning, reflection and evaluation to improve the impact of peace programming.

Diana has over 25 years of experience as a facilitator and consultant in negotiation and conflict resolution, as well as an advisor and evaluator of social change programming in conflict-affected countries, including in the Balkans, East Africa, South Africa, El Salvador, and Cyprus, as well as with organizations such as the OSCE and the United Nations. Diana has received her JD from Harvard Law School and MALD from the Fletcher School at Tufts University.