Collaboration with Women 20 Argentina

The fact that women are still being discriminated against in many spheres of today’s society might not be a surprise for most people, but corruption affects more women than men and there are even specific forms of corruption and extortion that almost exclusively affect women, such as sexual extortion, exploitation or human trafficking. In order to bring this topic to light, the Alliance for Integrity together with Women 20 (W20) Argentina and Civil 20 (C20) Argentina, launched a writing contest for post-graduate students on the topic: “The impact of corruption on the economic empowerment of women” earlier in 2018.

With her essay “Critical Thinking: Tools for the Economic Empowerment of Women” Clara Machado, studying at the university CENTRO in Mexico City, won said contest and thus earned herself a ticket to the W20 Summit 2018 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she had the chance to present her winning paper to the public. Her ticket to Argentina was sponsored by LATAM Airlines.

Carolina Echevarria, Coordinator for Latin America at the Alliance for Integrity, publically interviewed the young academic about her motivation to take part in this contest. In the light of this question, Clara Machado highlighted her affinity to the subject due to her personal experiences with discrimination and corruption as a migrant woman living in Mexico. She then shared the main conclusions of her paper, putting a special emphasis on the need for critical thinking and adequate female education starting from a very young age in order to empower women in the fight against corruption. Finally, the two women pointed out the C20 recommendations on gender and anti-corruption, especially the need for better data collection on the topic.

Throughout the public sessions of the W20 Summit during the 2 and 3 October, the attendees were able to participate in different panels and discussions concerning a variety of gender equality issues. Further information is available online.