Gender Differnce and Crime

Outline and assess the sociological explanations for gender differences in patterns of crime. The official crime statistics show that women commit less crime than men. Men are convicted of 80% of serious crimes, and women only make up about 5.7% of the prison population. There is also a difference in the types of crimes committed by men and women; most women are imprisoned for non-violent crimes such as theft or handling of stolen goods, which accounts for 57% of known female offenders in 2002. Men are more likely to commit violent or sexual crimes – crimes where they can demonstrate their power over other people. Frances Heidensohn (1989) has criticised the male dominance surrounding criminology (she refers to this as ‘malestream’ criminology) and suggested four reasons for this. She argues that there is both a male dominance of offenders, and within sociology itself. The majority of sociologists have always been male which, Heidensohn suggests, has made sociology more malestream due to the ways in which male sociologists apply their theories. Male sociologists study things which they can identify with and that interest them, making it difficult to apply their theories to females. It could be argued, however, that young women were simply not available to be studied by male sociologists, due to the informal control exercised by their parents. McRobbie (1994) found that many young women were not involved in subcultures because of parental control. Instead, they stayed indoors with their friends, reading magazines and gossiping, creating a ‘bedroom culture’ of their own. Hagan (1987) studied child raising patterns in Canada and found that daughters had far more informal control exercised over them than sons. Heidensohn (1985) identified three areas where women were socially controlled, giving them fewer opportunities to commit crime. At home, women were still seen as the primary carers of children and the household. In public, the use of derogatory language (such as...