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 Feminism and Criminology  Feminism criminology is a developing intellectual approach which emphasizes gender issues in the subject matter of criminology. This theory studies crime which focuses on two areas. One is victimology— male violence against women. The other is concerned with the causes of female crime and deviance. Before viewing victimology and the causes of female offending, we will view the following concepts which are used for feminist analyses in Feminism and Criminology: feminism, patriarchy, gender, and sex.

Feminism is the “advocacy of the rights and equality of women in social, political, and economic spheres, and…a commitment to the fundamental alteration of women’s role in society” (O’Grady 106). Feminism is about women gaining equal rights with men. This is a simplistic way of looking at it but feminism is more complex and profound than just a matter of equality with men. Feminism is a movement that stands for women’s rights but it does not end at simply claiming equal rights with men. It is a movement which knows that every human being was created equal and pushes forward in explaining that everyone is equal in every sphere of life from professional to public life and also in personal life.

Patriarchy refers to the system of society or government in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded from it. “Males continue to dominate in several sectors of society, including the economic organization of the household and the family, in the world of paid employment, in governments and educational systems, and in most cultural spheres, whether public(such as advertising), private(sexuality), or anti-social(such as violence and crime)”(O’Grady 106).

Sex is a biological trait of genital differences between males and females, whereas gender is a social construct pertaining to what it means in a culture to be masculine or feminine. In some cultures there could be male dominance over females. Thus, gender relations does not mean the different biological traits between women and men, but the basis of men’s social, political, and economic power over women.

 Male Violence against Women 

Analysis of crime, from a female perspective, have led to the belief that traditional, legal definitions of behaviours such as pornography, prostitution, domestic violence and sexual assault have primarily been defined through a male perspective, rather than female. Due to such male perception, issues surrounding sexual assault in Canada was widely ignored in the 1960s, a period of time recognized as the “virtual conspiracy of silence.” Outlook on violence against women was changed by “feminist criminology,” and feminist criminologists Lorenne Clark and Debra Lewis. Through their lobbying, crimes against women was dramatically changed in 1983 where the Canadian Criminal Justice System opted to change the phrase “rape,” to “sexual assault,” and made it illegal for a man to rape his wife. Prior to 1983, a husband would not be charged for raping his wife. Not only were drastic changes made to sexual assault laws, but new approaches were bestowed upon domestic violence laws. Prior to the rise of feminist criminology, police who responded to “domestic violence,” frequently did not lay charges, the conduct was considered “being drunk and disorderly at home.” After new policies were implemented, crown prosecutors were to charge and prosecute all reports of spousal abuse, where there were, both reasonable and probable ground of an offence.

Violence against women has resulted in significant economic costs. A 1995 study of sexual assault, abuse on women in intimate partnerships, and incest or child sexual abuse revealed that over $4.2 million was spent annually on social services, education, criminal justice, employment, and medical costs towards violence against women. Support services for spousal abuse are not well funded, or cease to exist. A study in the UK concluded that one-third of local municipalities, and authorities provide no services of any kind for victims of spousal abuse or domestic violence.

 Explaining Female Crime 

Before the late 1960s and early 1970s, criminologists seemed to ignore females who were involved with crime. Women involved in crime were viewed as “more masculine” than those who were not involved. This being said, there was no category separating female from male crime. Albert Cohen states that women who were discussed in sociological accounts of crime were said to be ‘sexual delinquent’. The reason for this is that male crime is versatile and female crime is relatively specified. By reviewing case records of juvenile girls in Chicago, W.I. Thomas found that most of these women were placed in custody for prostitution and related offences. He argued that these women were working as prostitutes because of the social disorganization they were a part of. Criminological explanations such as these continued to be researched for the next 30 years. In the 1970s and the 1980s the UCR collected data on women involved in crime. This data showed that the crimes women were being arrested for weren’t the ‘typical’ crimes that these always had been. These crimes now included women engaging in shoplifting, fraud, etc. There was still the traditional ‘female crime’, but this definition started to grow. One theory that helps determine female crime is the power control theory. This theory was developed through self-report surveys. These surveys were put into place in high schools in Toronto, Canada. These surveys were administered to teenagers and their parents to see how much freedom theses students had. From these surveys, it was found that being a teenage girl was a more limiting experience than being a teenage boy. This shows that males are freer to deviate than females, hence why more males are involved with crime. By comparing these differences, researchers were able to explain the differences between female and male crime. The study of crime and gender has become controversial due to the fact that theories of crime were originally developed by males and tested on male populations. But are these ‘malestream’ theories affective in explaining female crime? This question is brought about because female and male crimes come from different processes. Where males are more involved in about every crime, females tend to be more involved with minor property crimes. It has been determined that because female crime is so different than male crime, there cannot be one explanation for both of them. Therefore, the traditional explanation of crime cannot explain female crime meaning that female crime needs its own definition. However, this definition to date has not been developed.