Why do institutional efforts to combat sexual corruption so often end up focusing on vulnerable individuals rather than on powerful institutions? This paper addresses this question by examining the institutional practices aimed at addressing sexual corruption, understood as the abuse of entrusted power for sexual purposes. We argue that studying sexual corruption offers a fruitful entry point for a broader analysis of how power operates through institutional practices. A feminist institutionalist framework helps explain why anti–sexual corruption measures frequently take “the easy way out,” targeting individuals rather than confronting the institutionalized power structures that sustain inequality.
We develop a feminist institutionalist framework centered on institutions and power, integrating an accountability matrix designed to distinguish between backward- and forward-looking accountability, as well as upward- and downward-looking accountability. This perspective highlights how certain norms and practices remain unquestioned and how silences are produced and maintained within institutions.
Empirically, the paper draws on a case study of an educational institution in Tanzania, situated within a broader “nest” of interconnected institutions. We analyze how informal institutions—particularly those of morality and seniority, combined in the logic of paternalism—shape practices aimed at combating sexual corruption. We demonstrate how paternalistic understandings of empowerment reinforce existing hierarchies by shifting the burden of change onto the vulnerable, while leaving those in positions of power and the institutional status quo largely untouched. The study contributes to debates on anti-corruption and gender by showing how well-intentioned interventions can obscure rather than challenge the exercise of entrusted authority.
