Widespread corruption and persisting gender inequality constitute two major impediments for countering climate change and environmental degradation – two defining global challenges of our time. Not only do corruption and gender inequality present challenges by themselves, but they are also interlinked. Women and other marginalized groups in situation of disadvantage, tend to be disproportionately affected by corruption. For instance, corruption aggravates the technical and financial hurdles faced by employees and entrepreneurs in the process of adopting green economy practices in both the formal and the informal sector, where women are disproportionally represented.
If corruption slows down a fair transition towards a green economy, are gender equality and women’s empowerment the answer? Studies have shown that in the private sector, a more diverse and gender-equal top management correlates with increased transparency, increased financial performance, enhanced levels of innovation, and better sustainability approaches.
While it is difficult to demonstrate a clear causal relationship, enhancing diversity, including gender diversity, and inclusiveness in workplaces may help mitigate corrupt behavior. In fact, single-gender networks seem to contribute to workplace corruption, inhibit transparency and prevent progress by silently supporting the status quo, thus slowing down the necessary paradigm shift towards the transition to a green economy.
Consequently, and as showcased by research, anti-corruption and gender equality efforts tend to be mutually reinforcing. Synergies between the two can strengthen legal frameworks, policy decisions and entrepreneurship. These synergies can pave the way for an innovative, more inclusive and more egalitarian stance that serves as a catalyst towards the transition to a green, net-zero economy.
Increasing equal participation and inclusive leadership in the green economy is thus not only an important objective for improving diversity and supporting inclusive work cultures; it also might reduce corruption and thereby enhance productivity, efficiency, and innovation by encouraging a wider scope for ideas and views to be heard and considered. Therefore, it is in the interest of the international community to proactively prevent corruption by using a gender and equality lens, and to ensure equitable access for all to innovation, green business and employment opportunities.
Ambassador and Permanent Representative, Mexico
Moderator of the VDF 2023
Mr. Luis Javier Campuzano Piña entered the Foreign Service in 1989. He worked for the General Coordination of Counsellors to the Foreign Minister and was chief of staff of the Vice Minister for International Cooperation, as well as technical secretary of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. From June 2006 to November 2009, he was Deputy Permanent Representative of the Mexican Mission to the OAS in Washington, D.C. Ambassador of Mexico in Kenya from 2009 to 2014. He also was Permanent Representative of Mexico to UNEP and UN-Habitat. Ambassador in Norway from 2014 to 2017. He was Director-General for the United Nations at the Mexican Foreign Ministry until early December 2018, and then, Councilor to the Vice Minister of Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights. Since June 30th, 2020, he is the Ambassador of Mexico in Austria and Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna.
Rita Idehai is a geoscientist turned social innovator who is solving Nigeria’s indiscriminate waste management problem and leading the transition to a circular economy. Through Ecobarter, Nigerian households are incentivized to sort and use their waste as a currency by recycling. Rita is enabling Nigerian cities to adapt to the prominent risk of flooding while also helping 200+ indigent youths and women earn a sustainable income collecting and trading otherwise wastes. Rita has been featured as 1 of 50 African entrepreneurs to know by the prestigious Tony Elumelu Foundation and recognized as a Youth Leader by both the UNDP and British High Commission in Nigeria. She is 1 of the 20 winners of the 2023 Africa Youth Adaptation Challenge and the best female-led startup at the pilot Global Cleantech competition in Nigeria. Rita sits as the president of the recyclers association of Nigeria and recently led a community of 270 volunteers on a 3-month Go Green Campaign across Nigeria.
Jennifer Sarvary Bradford joined the UNODC Corruption and Economic Crime Branch in 2013. Since her arrival, she has spearheaded the work on gender and corruption. As part of the secretariat to the Mechanism for the Review of Implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, the only global anti-corruption instrument currently encompassing 190 States parties, she has coordinated over 40 country reviews.
Jennifer has worked for the United Nations since 1998. After working for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and subsequently in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations in New York and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, she joined UNODC in Vienna in 2005. She holds a Master’s in Law from Lund University where she also attended the Master’s Programme at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute.
Mr. Jamie Smith
Jamie Smith is a Senior Policy Specialist for anti-corruption at the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) where his work focuses addressing corruption as a development obstacle. At SIDA his remit covers Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia and he has a thematic focus on digital tools for anti-corruption, corruption in the health sector, public administration reform, gender and corruption and Illicit financial flows. He is also SIDA's focal point for the UNODC. He has a background as a consultant, project manager and NGO leader in the fields of good governance, anti-corruption and public financial management. He holds a Masters in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
Ms. Tuija Brax has diverse experience in legal matters, having served as both a member of parliament and the Minister of Justice of Finland. In her role as Minister of Justice, she was responsible for drafting several significant legislative documents, including the current Constitution of Finland, the Act on a Candidate’s Election Funding, and the Emergency Powers Act. During her tenure as a member of parliament, she chaired both the Legal Affairs Committee and the Audit Committee of the Parliament of Finland and served for three terms as a member of the Constitutional Law Committee. After concluding her term as the Secretary-General of the Finnish Heart Association, Ms. Brax assumed the position of Director of the Rule of Law Centre at the University of Helsinki in August 2021.
The Vienna Discussion Forum is an annual event to discuss gender equality and the empowerment of women in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Details on the 2022 Forum can be found here.
