Gender Equality In Criminal Justice

Tina Huang

CRJ 111

Professor Morse

September 23, 2016

ESSAY 1

It has been a prolonged challenge and struggle for those that want equality, especially females. With females, they are oppressed in many various forms such as with the patriarchy, denial, absence of choices, etc. Being in prison is no different for females, since it is a male-dominated environment, with the threat of sexual harassment and assault always there. As demonstrated, “Feminists who emphasize the differences between male and female claim that women suffer from an equality model that operates under the guise of gender neutrality, because when gender differences are ignored, women’s status ends up being measured against a dominant male norm (textbook, pg. 51). It makes sense

the police, courts, and corrections) must understand how women are different from men. They must be able to know that women like to build relationships and be that mother hen figure by nurturing others, while men seek power and status. This is because of how society has shaped gender expectations and roles for many centuries. Intersectionality is a notion that should be discussed more at length, it is the “interlocking sites of oppression inherent in the categories of race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, and age” (Textbook, pg. 6). This provides a good segue with the four kinds of oppression women may face, they are: psychological, social, economic, and political. The trauma-informed treatment approach is handy because it attempts to bring to light, hidden reasons that explain why female offenders did what they did. Most of the time, a large majority of female offenders have been sexually and physically abused by someone they know for a very long time (ex. family, friend, etc). Treating women similar to men is not considered equality, what constitutes true equality is by first learning about women and the social constructs they have to deal with due to gender relations which impacts the fundamentals of social order and its institutions. Gender matters a lot. “We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back” –Malala