Feminism

• Heidensohn - patriarchal control

  Argues women commit fewer crimes than men because patriarchal society imposes gender control over women > reduces opportunity to offend
• Public sphere


  Everywhere other than home
• Private sphere


  Home
• Heidensohn - control at home

  1. Women's domestic role imposes restrictions on women's time and movement > confines them to the home for long periods > less opportunity to offend
  2. Men able to impose this role on women through threat of domestic violence or financial power
  3. Daughters subject to patriarchal control > develop bedroom culture > socialising at home instead of public spheres
  4. Girls expected to do more housework > restricted time and movement > can't engage in deviant behaviour outside the home
• Heidensohn - control in public

  • Fear of being victims of sexual violence controls female behaviour in public places > media reporting of rapes frightens women into staying at home
  • Fear of being defined as not respectable (e.g. acting or dressing in a certain way can gain a woman a 'reputation) > women alone may avoid going to pubs in fear of being labelled
• Heidensohn - control at work

  • Women's subordinate position at work reduces criminal opportunities
  • 'Glass ceiling' prevents women rising to senior positions where there's more opportunities for white collar crime
• Evaluation of Heidensohn

  • Control theory views women's behaviour as determined by external force of patriarchal control
  • Ignores importance of free will and choice in offending
• Carlen - marxist feminist

  • Studied 39 w/c women who had been convicted of a wide range of crimes
  • Argues most convicted serious female criminals were w/c
• Carlen - class and gender

  Studied 39 w/c women who had been convicted of wide range of crimes

  • 20 were in prison or youth custody
  • argue that most convicted serious female criminals were w/c
  • argue women who gained nothing from either deal > felt they had nothing to lose by turning to crime
• Class deal

  Women in Carlen’s study haven’t found a legitimate way to earn a decent living

  • most always lived in poverty, couldn’t find a job
• Gender deal

  Some women had been abused by fathers or partners
• Evaluation of Carlen

  • sample was small and unrepresentative consisting of serious offenders
  • shows how patriarchal societies fail to deliver the promised deal to some women leading them to offend
• Adler - liberation thesis

  • Argues as women became liberated from patriarchy their offending would become similar to mens
  • women’s liberation is leading to a new type of female criminal and a rise in the female crime rate
• Adler

  • patriarchal control and discrimination have lessened > more equality and opportunity
  • women adopted traditional male roles in legitimate (work) and illegitimate (crimes) spheres > rate of offending has risen
  • women no longer just commit traditional female crimes (shoplifting) > have opportunity to commit white collar crime
• Evaluation of Adler

  • critics argue female crimes rates rose before women liberation movement began
  • most female criminals are w/c, more likely to be influenced by women’s liberation