Sextortion and entrepreneurship: a pilot study of interventions to prevent sexual exploitation of female entrepreneurs
In conflict-affected countries, women often depend on public services for basic needs, safety, and livelihoods, exposing them to corruption risks, especially where legal protections and enforcement are weakened. A particularly harmful form of corruption, and one that disproportionately targets women, is sexual corruption or “sextortion”, where instead of seeking money, public officials abuse their power to demand sexual acts. We aim to investigate if a training and peer support intervention for women entrepreneurs in Burkina Faso can protect women against sextortion, which is particularly prevalent in business registration and financing offices (Aja-Eke et al., 2024b). We aim to collect survey data and pilot-test interventions based on a multi-component training and peer-support network for vulnerable female entrepreneurs, including internally displaced women. The training will empower women with economic and legal knowledge, and communication and negotiation skills to recognize and counter sextortion risks. Our research questions are:
- What is the incidence of sextortion in public service domains that women entrepreneurs must deal with to launch and develop businesses in conflict areas?
- Are internally displaced women entrepreneurs victimized more than non-displaced ones?
- Are training and peer support interventions feasible, effective, and cost-efficient in preventing sextortion and mitigating its adverse impacts?