Female Gangs are Missunderstood

Society has marginalized women into gender related roles that made it almost impossible for them to succeed. Women in society have been taught to become puppets to a male master. Women in society were supposed to follow the orders of their male counterparts. Some of the women who felt that they have been marginalized by society tend to create or join subcultural groups known as gangs. The question remains: are female gang members used as disposable accessories in gangs or are they forming their own gang to liberate themselves from gender related roles set by society? Girls in male gangs have been viewed as disposable accessories, but they have changed the nature of a gang by creating all female gangs eliminating the male dominant figure. I believe that female gangs have been misunderstood and are liberating themselves from the stereotypes set by society.

Gangs are a group of people or an organization fighting for a purpose. Gangs can have three members or more from the ages of 12 through 24 (Belknap, 2007). Some gangs can be unisex, male gendered, or female gendered only. According to Belknap many girls join gangs for four reasons: protection, family, escape, and status.

In early history, women were viewed as housewives; their expectations were not necessarily equal to males. Females were placed in gender roles by society. Early gender roles included cooking, cleaning, taking care of children, and becoming house wives. Male gang members accept and encourage sex roles. Fleury and Fernet discuss the views that gang members have crystallized sex roles. A young gang member interviewed says, “I don’t like it [when my girl] come out to the park with me. Because girls that hang out in that park, they aren’t seen as good girls...Th...

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...carcerated women have tripled since the late 1980s, according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports. While violent-crime rates are decreasing nationally, female juvenile crime is on the increase. Total crime arrests of female juveniles increased 118 percent between 1987 and 1996...The percentage of female gang involvement nationally is estimated at 10 to 15 percent; their ages range from 9 to 24" (2005, p.1). By this statement, Edwards is trying to say that girls are forming their own gangs and are learning to engage in all manner of crime just like men. Females have been gaining equality in gangs, but their crime rates have increased greatly throughout the United States. Females have become more violent, independent, and dominant in their gangs. Past society may have seen females in gangs as disposable accessories, but females have been changing the nature of gangs.