Women smuggling and the men who help them: gender, corruption and illicit networks in Senegal

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Periodical article

Title:	Women smuggling and the men who help them: gender, corruption and illicit networks in Senegal
Author:	Howson, Cynthia
Year:	2012
Periodical:	Journal of Modern African Studies (ISSN 0022-278X)
Volume:	50
Issue:	3
Pages:	421-445
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	Gambia Senegal
Subjects:	boundaries women gender illicit trade corruption
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/41653716
Abstract:	This paper investigates gendered patterns of corruption and access to illicit networks in Senegal among female cross-border traders near the Senegambian border. Despite a discourse of generosity and solidarity, access to corrupt networks is mediated by class and gender, furthering social differentiation, especially insofar as it depends on geographic and socio-economic affinity with customs officers, State representatives and well-connected transporters. Issues of organizational culture, occupational identity and interpersonal negotiations of power represent important sources of corruption that require an understanding of the actual dynamics of public administration. While smuggling depends on contesting legal and social boundaries, the most successful traders (and transporters) strive to fulfil ideal gender roles as closely as possible. Ironically, trading on poverty and feminine vulnerability only works for relatively affluent women. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]