THE NIGERIAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY
ISSN: 0331-4111 e-ISSN: 2736-075X
Volume 24, No. 2, November 2026
Pages 110-131
DOI: 10.36108/NJSA/6202.42.0270
Gender Dimensions of White-Collar Crime Participation among Civil Servants in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria
Modupe Serah Obateru1,2 and Modupe Ala1
1Department of Behavioural Sciences, Lead City University, Ibadan, Nigeria
2Oyo State Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Ibadan, Nigeria
Abstract
White-collar crime in the public sector undermines institutional integrity, public trust and national development. Although corruption in Nigeria has been widely studied, the gender dimensions of occupational offending among civil servants remain under-examined, and claims about women’s rising involvement are often made without adequate evidence. This narrative literature review synthesises international and Nigerian evidence on gender and white-collar crime in public bureaucracies, with particular reference to civil servants in Oyo State, Nigeria. Feminist criminology and General Strain Theory (GST) are integrated into a single analytical framework in which gendered organisational structures shape the types of strain people experience, their emotional and coping responses, and their opportunities to offend. The review finds that men remain over-represented in the available evidence on bribe-taking and occupational fraud. National survey data indicate that female public officials in Nigeria are less likely than male officials to solicit or take bribes, although part of this difference reflects women’s under-representation in decision-making positions. Internationally, women’s share of occupational fraud has risen only modestly over three decades, and the evidence does not support the claim that women’s offending increases in step with their labour-market participation. Gender differences appear to be shaped less by any inherent propensity than by position, access to networks, economic and social pressures, and the likelihood of sanction. No study identified examined these patterns among Oyo State civil servants, and gender-disaggregated enforcement data are lacking. The paper concludes with evidence-informed recommendations: gender-disaggregated data, gender-responsive reporting and integrity systems, merit-based recruitment and promotion, and empirical studies in Oyo State’s civil service.
Keywords: White-collar crime, feminist criminology, anti-corruption, governance