Feminist Views on Gender and Offending

What do Radical Feminists suggest as the explanation for differences between Gender and Offending Rates?

women are too tightly controlled - unable to commit crimes

What do Socialist Feminists suggest as the explanation for differences between Gender and Offending Rates?

working class women experience more oppression - commit more crime compared to middle class women

Which type of feminism does sociologists Heidensohn follow?

Radical Feminism

What does Heidensohn argue about differences in Gender and Offending Rates?

patriarchal societies control women far more than men - making it more difficult for them to break the law

What are the 3 ways that Heidensohn suggests women are controlled in?

• home

• work

• public

How does Toor support Heidensohn’s perspective on patriarchal control?

explained extremely low levels of criminality among British Asian Women

Which type of feminism does sociologists Carlen follow?

Socialist Feminism

What does Carlen argue about differences in Gender and Offending Rates?

class and gender interact to explain the offending of working-class women

• WC women haven’t enjoyed the benefits of ‘liberation’

What ‘deals’ does Carlen suggest that working class women must follow to be seen as respectable?

• Class Deal - work hard in exchange for pay, use pay for consumer goods

• Gender Deal - should do domestic labour and give love and companionship to their husbands, in exchange for love and financial support

What does Carlen suggest happens when working-class women ‘deals’ broke down?

WC women were then more likely to commit crimes as rational choice

• less stigma that WC women MUST achieve these deals

Did Carlen believe that these ‘deals’ previously given to working-class women were exploitative?

yes - women exploited in families and exploited by employers

• however, illusion of fairness and respectability about these deals kept women under control

What does the Liberation Thesis propose about Gender and Offending Rates?

increase in women offending - due to women having more freedom to participate in criminal activities (previously dominated by men)

Which perspective does sociologists Adler follow to explain Gender and Offending Rates?

Liberation Thesis

What does Adler suggest as the explanation for an increase of women in offending rates?

women have become more liberated and gain greater equality in society

• their involvement in crime will increase and the types of crime they commit will become more similar to those committed by men

How have women become more liberated to commit crimes according to Adler?

• women have more freedom to participate in activities traditionally dominated by men

• as women break free from traditional roles - can participate in more types of crime

• gender gap in crime will narrow as social restrictions on women lessen

What evidence does Denscombe provide to support Adler’s perspective?

self-image of 15-16 years old - females were adopting what had traditionally been classes as male attitudes

• female crimes are rising at a higher rate than male crimes!

What are the major issues with the Liberation Thesis?

• gender gap between men and women remains large (95% of prison population is still men)

• most female criminality is committed by working class

• Chesney-Lind - women in criminality usually involves prostitution; male control

How evidence does Chesney-Lind use to criticise the Liberation Thesis?

women involved in criminality are likely to be involved in acts such as prostitution - male control

• female criminals are still expected to conform to male hierarchy

How can changes in policing and reporting be an explanation for an increase in female criminality?

increased arrest rates for minor offences may inflate statistics

What evidence does Sharpe and Gelsthorpe use to propose that net-widening policies are responsible for an increase in female crime?

net-widening policies such as prosecuting females for low-level physical alternations - leads to an increase of females in crime statistics

• doesn’t mean they are committing more crimes!