The Role Of Women In Supporting Anti-Corruption Initiatives In Legislative Institutions And Election Organizers

A number of Indonesian Anti-Corruption Women Activists (PIA) held peaceful demonstrations in front of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), Jakarta, Tuesday (15/10/2019). (ANTARA/Aditya Pradana Putra/pras)

JAKARTA A number of studies show an important role in women's political representation in reducing small and large-scale corruption. However, this hypothesis has not been tested in the case of Indonesia. In fact, Indonesia can be said to have many cases of corruption in legislative institutions and electoral organizations that have received public attention.

Corruption is the main enemy of development that not only occurs in Indonesia, but also various other parts of the world. In Indonesia, although it has long been committed to fighting corruption, based on Transparency International data in 2024 it is ranked 114 of the 180 most corrupt countries.

Corruption occurred in almost all public sectors, including legislative institutions and election organizers. Political corruption cases, most of which occur in male paronase networks, are also believed to hamper the participation and contribution of women in the two institutions.

Based on the results of a survey conducted by the Center for Political Studies at the University of Indonesia (Puskapol UI), it shows that women have an important role to play in supporting anti-corruption initiatives within the government.

"Women tend to be more careful in accepting corruption because of moral considerations and there is no pressure on economic needs," said Puskapol UI Psychological and Associate Researcher Lecturer Whinda Yustisia.

Gender and corruption are said to have close relationships. This is based on research in a number of countries that show that the high level of women's representation has a correlation with a decrease in the level of corruption. In addition, the high level of women's representation is also able to reduce small and large-scale corruption.

A study from Stensota while analyzing data from the European Commission from 30 European countries found that the higher the number of women in parliament, the lower the level of corruption felt.

However, this thesis has not been tested in cases in Indonesia. Comparative studies and case studies on gender and corruption have also not explored the role of women's representation in reducing the level of political corruption in electoral organizations.

Women often get negative stereotypes, for example, they are considered weaker, give up easily, until they are too emotional so they are deemed unfit to be leaders or occupy strategic positions. Because of this stereotype, not a few are curious when women's representation in politics continues to be fought for.

However, the results of the Puskapol UI survey show that women have an important role in supporting anti-corruption initiatives within the government. This is also influenced by a number of factors that need to be considered to increase the intensity of involvement in anti-corruption initiatives.

First there is a correlation between gender and corruption, where women have greater anti-corruption intentions than men.

"Women tend to be more involved in anti-corruption initiatives than men", said Whinda.

Another factor that influences is the perception of the support of colleagues and the perception of the personal agency. So, the more confident they are that colleagues support anti-corruption actions, the greater the intention of being involved in this behavior.

"And, the easier it is to be actively involved in preventing and fighting corruption, the greater the intention," he added.

Puskapol UI conducts research in legislative institutions and electoral organizations. These two institutions were chosen because they are institutions that have a framework for women's political representation regulations.

This study explores the perceptions and perspectives of members of the legislature and organizers of the male and female elections on corruption, factors that encourage them to accept or reject corruption, and how the influence of women's political representation on the anti-corruption agenda in Indonesia.

In this research, Puskapol revealed that the number of corruption cases in the DPR RI, KPU, and Bawaslu was dominated by men.

This can be seen in the DPR, for example, 34 corruption cases involving 73 members of the DPR from 2004-2002. Of this case, most of the actors are male, with a total of 62 people while the remaining 11 are women.

Findings at the KPU are also almost the same. In 2004-2019, there were 18 corruption cases with 29 men involved and only one woman involved.

Even with Bawaslu. 13 corruption cases were found during 2013'2023. In this case involved 12 men, four women, and 11 other people with unidentified names.

"Our research findings reflect the general pattern of corruption cases where women's involvement is lower than that of men," said the Director of Puskapol UI Hurriyah.

"Nevertheless, it is important to note that the role of women in these cases tends to be more of a supporting actor, and the scale of corruption is not as big as the corruption cases involving male actors," he said.

Hurriyah also explained two factors that need to be considered to reduce the intention of corruption in legislative institutions and election organizers. The first is the factor of attitude, which is the more negative the view on corruption, the less likely it is to commit corruption.

The second is the regulatory norm factor that is considered correct by colleagues, which is increasingly convinced by a person that many of his co-workers reject corruption, the less likely they are to commit corruption.

In this case, according to Hurriyah, the role of women in supporting corruption prevention initiatives has been seen, but the scope is still on a small scale.

"At the election organizing institution, there have been several good practices for women's experience in carrying out anti-corruption initiatives," he said.

A similar role has also been seen in the legislature. According to him, women are more careful in accepting corruption by considering the morals, norms, and domestic burdens attached to women, as well as the absence of pressure from economic needs.

Meanwhile, men tend to be more vulnerable to corruption because there is an economic and sustainability need in politics as well as opportunities for transactional spaces.