The Easy Way Out: A Feminist Institutionalist Analysis of Efforts to Combat Sexual Corruption

Why do institutional efforts to combat 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. 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-corruption measures frequently take “the easy way out,” targeting individuals rather than confronting the institutionalized power structures that sustain inequality. The paper builds on a feminist institutionalist framework centered on institutions and power, and proposes 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. It analyzes how informal institutions shape practices aimed at combating sexual corruption. The paper demonstrates 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.