Feminist perspectives on women and crime: Frances Heidensohn

Feminist perspectives on women and crime: Frances Heidensohn

1. According to Heidensohn, females are less likely to commit crime because they are monitored more heavily than men. She points to the wide range of informal sanctions to discourage women from straying from 'proper' behaviour, including gossip, having a bad reputation and the comments of men. There are three settings in which greater social control is exercised over women than men in a patriarchal society:

   • Control at home – Women are partially controlled through lack of time due to their primary role as a housewife and mother. This ensures that they are at home more than men thus restricting their opportunity to commit crime outside the home. Women may also be controlled through domestic violence from men or through the financial dominance of male partners, who continue to earn, on average, more than women. Girls also tend to be subjected to greater social control than boys – for example, teenage boys are often allowed to go out more and/or stay out later than girls.
   • Control in public – Women may choose to not go into public places for fear of being ridiculed, raped or attacked, particularly after dark. Heidensohn feels that sexist comments and the risk of being labelled, for example, a 'slag' limit the freedom of women.
   • Control at work – Most managers at work are males and they are therefore in a position to exercise control over females. Trade unions are also largely dominated by men, and various forms of sexual harassment might stop female employees from asserting themselves in the workplace.

2. Heidensohn's theory is supported by Hagan, who studied child-rearing patterns in Canada. He argued that there was significantly greater informal control of daughters' activities compared to those of sons'.

   • Similarly, Toor has explained the exceptionally low rates of recorded crimes among British Asian girls in terms of social control – there is a strong emphasis on the idea of honour ('izzat') and shame ('sharam') in many Asian families, and the fear of being ostracised by communities is sronger among Asian girls than boys. This explains why Asian girls are rarely in trouble with the law.
     • Nonetheless, Heidensohn's work is somewhat dated and the social control of females may not be as great as it once was. Some liberal feminists argue that significant strides have been made for women in achieving greater freedom from social control; if this is correct, it is difficult to explain why female crime rates remain so low.