Family Liability of Income and Assets Gained through Corruption: Women’s Role, Risks, and Responsibilities

Corruption is a serious problem in Bangladesh – it has deeply spread across various levels of the state and society. Corruption hinders economic, political, and social development. Its negative impacts are felt across all levels of society, especially by the poor, marginalized, disadvantaged, and backward populations who are outside the power structure. Nearly half of Bangladesh's population is women. It is believed that women, as the "poorest among the poor", suffer even more from the adverse effects of corruption. Due to the widespread nature of corruption, women, like men, often fall victim to corruption while seeking services in various sectors. According to TIB’s 2015 household survey, 99.6% of the surveyed households across the country received services from some sector, and 67.8% of these households experienced corruption in the process. Among the service recipients, 42.8% were women, and 38.2% of them were found to have encountered corruption. However, although the survey data shows a lower rate of women giving bribes or being directly affected by corruption, it cannot be concluded that women are less impacted by corruption; rather, women are less visible in the initial stages of bribery (entry points) due to seeking services less frequently.

Objective of the Paper

One of the key objectives of TIB's work is to build a gender-sensitive social movement against corruption. To this end, TIB has long been identifying the various impacts of corruption on women through its activities and has been making recommendations accordingly. As the only specialized institution in the country legally tasked with preventing corruption, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) also conducts various awareness campaigns to prevent corruption among people at all levels.

In recent times, a specific type of risk to women has been observed – women are becoming entangled in illegal income and assets acquired through corruption, they are being involved, held accountable for explaining such illegal income and assets, and are even being considered offenders for acquiring them. This discussion meeting has been organized to explore this issue in detail, and this working paper has been prepared in that context. The main objective of this paper is to analyze the risks of family liability imposed on women due to illegal income and assets acquired through corruption, examine women's roles in this process, identify related legal, institutional, and socio-economic structural impacts, and create opportunities for discussion to determine necessary actions.

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