feminism

• Waves of feminism


  • 1st Wave - 'equality'
  • 2nd Wave - 'liberation'
  • 3rd Wave - 'patriarchy'
• 1st Wave


  • Challenging the positivist rhetoric
  • From the enlightenment to the suffragettes
  • Overturning legal obstacles to gender equality (i.e., property and voting rights)
  • Legal equality and political (thought that women weren't intellectual enough to vote)
• 2nd Wave


  • Emergence of critical and radical perspectives
  • Activism and recognition of legal and social restrictions and inequalities
  • From the 60s-80s "Women's Liberation Movement"
  • Women might have the vote but don't have control over their own bodies
• 3rd Wave


  • 'new feminism' and postmodern ideology
  • Ambition and power
  • From the 90's onwards, acknowledging changes in attitude and social structures
• "feminist theory, is not one but many, each feminist theory attempts to describe women's oppression, to explain its causes and consequences, and to prescribe strategies for women's liberation" (Tong and Botts, 1994: 1).
• Early feminist work tended to concentrate on drawing attention to the inadequacy and omissions of criminologists in dealing with gender (and more particularly 'women').
• Feminist criminology


  • An intellectual/political and social movement
  • 'Women-centred' and stressing the importance of gender in social structures and relations
• Carol Smart's first book, Women, Crime and Criminology. A Feminist Critique (1976) offered the first comprehensive feminist critique of criminological theories and pose the question about the value of a sex-based separatist approach (eventually deciding against this).
• Carol Smart (1990): 'what has passed for science is in fact the world perceived from the perspective of men, what looks like objectivity is really sexism and the kinds of questions social science has traditionally asked excluded women and the interests of women'
• Alternative epistemologies offered


  • Feminist Empiricism
  • Feminist Standpointism
  • Feminist Postmodernism
  • Growth of intersectional analyses
• Feminist Empiricism


  • (Re)instates women as knowers of knowledge who maintain this in different ways to men
• Feminist Standpointism


  • Makes a virtue of having a feminist political commitment, as opposed to a spurious 'objectivity'
• Feminist Postmodernism


  • The category 'woman' is not fixed, plus no one identity can speak for all
• Feminist criminology challenges the idea that gender differences are solely biological. It views gender as a social construct shaped by cultural, social, and economic factors. This perspective emphasizes that societal norms and expectations contribute to the ways individuals experience and respond to crime.
• Advocacy by feminists led to the recognition of domestic violence as a serious crime, with many jurisdictions implementing legal measures to protect victims, enforce restraining orders, and prosecute offenders.
• Feminist efforts have contributed to reforms in sexual assault laws and policies. This includes changes in definitions of consent, improvements in evidence collection procedures, and the establishment of specialized units to handle sexual assault cases.
• Feminist criminologists have highlighted the dangers of stalking and its connection to gender-based violence. Many jurisdictions have responded by enacting anti-stalking legislation, providing legal protection and recourse for victims.
• Feminist criminology has contributed to the development of laws and policies addressing human trafficking, a form of gender-based violence. These measures aim to prosecute traffickers, protect victims, and prevent the exploitation of vulnerable individuals.
• Feminist criminology has called for reforms in correctional facilities to address the unique needs of women in the criminal justice system. This includes providing gender-specific rehabilitation programs, addressing issues like maternal incarceration, and improving conditions for incarcerated women.
• Doubly deviant


  Women who commit criminal offences are regarded as something that is very wrong with her as women don't commit crime
• Feminists have analysed the informal social control of women (e.g. Heidensohn, 1985).
• Much debate has focused on whether the male-dominated criminal justice system is chivalric towards women or biased against them.
• Feminists have analysed gendered patterns of sentencing and the gendering of penal treatment.
• Men don't normally go to prison on the first time offence but women are much more likely to go to prison and be dealt with harsher.
• Lucia Zedner (1991) rejected the 'revisionist' view that 19th century penal theory ignored gender difference. She demonstrated in detail the patriarchal prison regimes developed for women.
• In prison instead of being taught work skills like men women were taught how to sew, cook, clean etc.
• Pat Carlen & Women in Prison (WIP, founded 1984) have critiqued contemporary penal practice & its effects on women and their families.
• Feminist concern for victims can be traced back to so-called 'first wave' feminism, during the fight for women's enfranchisement (c. 1860-1920) (Jeffries, 1985; Smart 1999)
• Feminist activists & academics have prompted greater study of intimate partner violence, child abuse & other domestically-situated crimes (Kelly, 1988)
• Jock Young (1988) argued that it was 1970s feminist studies that provided the beginnings of a 'radical victimology'.
• Feminist research


  • Refocusing of the research to incorporate women's experiences
  • Collecting different kinds of data in different ways
  • Adoption of alternative methodologies that emphasise women as knowers, and which seek to empower women
  • Preference for qualitative rather than quantitative methodologies
  • Collect women's experiences in their own words
  • Power dynamics in production of knowledge/discourse, especially reflexivity about the role of the researcher
• One of the most significant aspects of feminist theory and practice has been to find/create/redefine words which reflect and record women's experiences. Concepts which are now commonplace simply did not exist before the present wave of feminist activism, for example, domestic violence, sexual harassment, child sexual abuse.
• Feminism challenged the androcentricity of the discipline by creating an alternative account. It addressed the absence of women by making women visible.
• Science is not the problem, but rather the andro-centric bias inherent in much of what passed for 'objective' or 'neutral' analysis.
• Advantages of feminist criminology

  • Made women's offending visible
  • Victimisation visible
  • The gendered nature of punishment visible
  • Awareness of power relations
  • Development of concepts and theories about women's offending
• Limitations of feminist criminology: ghettoisation of women's studies, left 'malestream' criminology unchanged and unchallenged.
• Criticisms of feminist criminology

  • May prioritize gender to the exclusion of other intersecting factors
  • Tends to focus disproportionately on female victimization while neglecting the victimization experiences of men
  • Relies too heavily on qualitative methods and personal narratives, limiting generalizability
  • Identifies problems but falls short in providing concrete solutions
  • Challenges traditional theories without providing clear alternatives
  • Can be politically biased, leading to a perceived lack of objectivity