As the struggle for women's empowerment continues in many low-income countries, there is a general expectation that women who manage to get into leadership positions will be committed to the empowerment struggle. Unfortunately, this hasn't been the case. While there are women who have excellently upheld integrity and honesty in their leadership roles, sadly, there are other women who can easily match their male counterparts in corruption, greed and other leadership malfeasance.

Question: Is it unrealistic to expect that most women(having been the most affected by bad governance),would want to eschew corruption when they are in leadership positions?

That would all consolidate depending on the nation involved, the answer may involve culture norms, religious beliefs, economic demands, educational opportunities, and a host of other factors that are part of a country's history, apart from the explicit mechanics of its electoral process. In order for women leaders to eradicate corruption, the first step for women leaders in seeking full representation shall be to analyse their own specific barriers to greater power to challenge corruption at all levels, sommencing with grass root level.Such examination in turn requires a more vritical approach to the dichotomies that dominate conceptualisations of human leadership. Key factors that can encouarge women leaders to steer clear off corruption: her particular qualities as a human being -- asserting her values of tolerance, pluralism, and human concern, her ability to control 'power' to best advantage for the nation she represents, and by resisting foreig policies that are based on corruptive measures. Same principle would apply if the woman leader was other than politician. Many NGO's have assidiously suffered corruption at the hands of their leaders, such atrocities should be investigated and a new paradigm needs to develop. Women leaders can make a difference. I am hopeful, for I am a woman, a social-political activist living for justice of those who have been silenced -- precisely by corruption.
Best, Shaheen Sultan Dhanji

We ought to expect our leaders to exhibit integrity and submit themselves to high ethical standards regardless of their gender. It is particularly disheartening when women fall prey to the allure of corruption on any level. However, I believe that honesty and integrity are traits of habit. If we can encourage women AND men to make integrity a way of life, it will be more easily maintained when they assume positions of leadership that affect the lives of millions. Schools like Ashesi University in Ghana are incorporating integrity and honor code into their community. This is one of the innovative ways that could lead to a new breed of ethical leadership in Africa.