In 2015, scrambling for a way to fight corruption from within, the Jalisco Department of Transport (Semov) decided to fiddle with its gender ratio, augmenting the distaff side.
Two years later, complaints of corruption have dropped by 30 percent, according to the agency’s internal affairs office.
Seven months into 2017, 178 complaints of corruption have been registered for Semov, which is on track to be a significant drop in comparison to 2013, when 430 complaints were filed.
The key sector targeted by the government has been the traffic police: the first wave of woman hires filled posts in the “Saving Lives” program, the main functions of which are detecting and punishing drivers with a blood-alcohol level over the legal limit. Next up were posts relating to the inspection of municipal transportation vehicles. Finally, more women were hired to supervise the city’s many busy intersections.
The hiring process initiated by the city was rigorous and based on meritocratic criteria, rather than the dubious qualifications of nepotism which hitherto had often governed hiring. Some 8,000 women applied for the advertised posts, but only five percent of that amount was hired, which would seem to speak to the hirers’ adherence to exacting standards and proper procedures.