Gender Explanations-Women Flashcards
Why do women APPEAR to commit less crime?
The Chivalry Thesis (Pollak)
What is the Chivalry thesis?
Idea that women are less likely to be prosecuted as men and the CJS are lenient to women
Why?
Men have been socialised to be chivalrous towards women and have a protective attitude to them
So?
Women’s crimes are less likely to appear in official stats as men are less willing to arrest, charge or prosecute them
What arguments are there to support Chivalry thesis?
Self-Report studies found women treated more leniently, e.g. Graham and Bowlby’s study
>Found the gap between men and women’s crimes is much smaller that recorded in official stats
>Found males are 2.33x more likely to admit to crimes where official stats saying its 4x
Carlen: majority of women who go to prison less likely to be sentenced by the seriousness of their crimes and rather the court’s assessment of them as wives, mothers etc (e.g. Lavinia Woodward stabbing)
What arguments are there against the chivalry thesis?
Farrington and Morris: study on theft sentencing, women were NOT more leniently sentenced in similar offences
Box: if women appear to be treated more leniently, its because their crimes aren’t as serious and less likely to go to trial
Fem v Carlen: Women are treated more harshly and demonised by the media if their crime goes against the traditional expressive role (e.g. vs children)
What example of a crime can you use to counter the chivalry thesis?
Myra Hinley, lured children into moors and killed them > given max sentence
Why do women COMMIT less crime than men?
Functionalist Sex Role Theory -Parsons
Heidenson: Patriarchal control
What is Parson’s Sex Role Theory?
Women commit less crime as socialised into different roles to men.
Expressive role means girls have a role model at home but boys lack a male role model and reject femininity in the home, therefore they perform compensatory compulsory masculinty to make up for it
Cohen- boys find their masculine identity thru engaging in all male delinquent street gangs due to a lack of a discipline figure
What is compensatory compulsory masculinity?
risk-taking, aggression and anti-social behaviour to make up for the absence of a male role model
What does Heidenson argue about Patriarchal control?
women commit fewer crimes than men because patriarchy has more control over them meaning they have less opportunities to offend
How is patriarchal control in effect in the home and how does it prevent women committing crime?
expressive role > restricted time and so more time in the home
Daughters too, made to come home early
>adopt bedroom culture
How is it enforced?
Men can use financial power and the threat of DV
How is patriarchal control in effect in public and how does it prevent women committing crime?
Controlled thru fear of male sexual violence, media reports frighten women into staying inside e.g. Sarah Everard
Controlled thru fear of being slut-shamed, may avoid going into pubs alone for fear of gaining a bad reputation OR being harrassed
How is patriarchal control in effect in the workplace and how does it prevent women committing crime?
Women’s subordinate position reduces opportunities to commit corporate crime
‘glass ceiling’
How does the Liberation thesis criticise Heidensohn’s theory of Patriarchal control?
Women have been liberated from patriarchy and so their rate of offending has become similar to men’s
What does Heidensohn acknowledge that limits his explanation?
Patriarchy can push some women into crime e.g. women are more likely to be poor and turn to theft and prostitution to get by
How can Parson’s Sex Role Theory be criticised?
Walkate: criticises Parsons for assuming that all women are biologically suited to the caring role, his argument is based on ASSUMPTIONS about biology not FACT
For those women who do commit crime WHY?
Carlen: Class and Gender deals
Adler: The Liberation Thesis
What class is the most convicted in female criminal cases acc. to Carlen?
WC
Why do people commit crime according to Carlen?
If they don’t believe they will recieve the rewards of conformity OR if the rewards appear greater than the risks
BECAUSE HUMANS ARE RATIONAL BEINGS
What two ‘deals’ lead WC women to conform according to Carlen?
the class deal: working will earn women a good standard of living
the gender deal: women who conform to trad. roles will gain material and emotional rewards through family life
So what happens if neither of these deals work out?
Women turn to crime out of poverty and broken family bonds
How can Carlen’s study and theory be criticised?
Study small and possibly unrepresentative, consisting largely of serious offenders
Feminism often women’s behaviour is determined by external factors like patriarchy which IGNORES free will + offending
What laws support Adler’s liberation thesis?
Abortion Legalised 1967
Equal Pay Act 1970
Sex Discrimination Act 1975
