Incidence of gender in judicial decisions on corruption as an extralegal factor perpetuating stereotypes: a comparative study of Brazilian, Spanish, and German justice systems

Abstract

This article analyzes how the justice systems in Brazil, Spain and Germany handle  cases of corruption from a gender perspective, taking stereotypes from legislation and social practices into account - where there are preconceived concepts of the roles attributed to the genders. This study aims to contribute to a better understanding of how society perceives corrupt women and women involved in corruption cases by comparing the role of social gender norms in judicial activity in Brazilian, Spanish, and German experiences. A number of cases with media repercussions are discussed, with the goal of examining the relationship between court decisions and media coverage in each country. The article points out that, despite the existence of significant legislative frameworks in the area of promoting gender equality, and despite the effective advances made by the Brazilian, Spanish, and German judiciary, improvements are still necessary.