Gender Inequality, Stereotypes & Their Role in Shaping Offending

This essay delves into the pervasive issues of gender inequality and stereotypes and their significant influence on shaping female offending patterns. It highlights how societal expectations and discriminatory practices against women have historically led to various forms of subjugation and marginalization. The essay further explores the changing dynamics of female offending, noting a shift in crime types and motivations, potentially linked to the rise of feminist theories and increased awareness of gender imbalances. It also examines the persistence of stereotypes, such as 'emphasized femininity' and 'hegemonic masculinity', and their role in perpetuating inequality and shaping both societal perceptions and individual behaviors. The essay concludes by suggesting that addressing gender inequality and challenging stereotypes are crucial steps in understanding and mitigating female offending patterns.

Running head: GENDER INEQUALITY AND STEREOTYPES
Gender Inequality and Stereotypes
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

1GENDER INEQUALITY AND STEREOTYPES
Gender inequality has been a part of the human society since the ancient times and it
is a reflection of this particular fact that the female fraternity of the world had to face a lot of
discrimination as well as restrictions since the dawn of human civilization (Kay, Matuszek
and Munson 2015). Furthermore, it is generally seen that a number of stereotypes are
associated with the behaviors which are required of the male as well as the female members
of the society (Kay, Matuszek and Munson 2015). This essay will focus on the concept of
gender inequality and gender stereotypes and the way these have played a significant role in
shaping the female offending pattern. The major focus of the essay will be on the way the
different stereotypes which has traditional been attributed to the female behavior have played
a significant role in shaping the offending patterns which are being used against them. It is
significant to note that the females had to face not only discrimination but also various kinds
of offending behaviors because of their gender (Pickett, Mancini and Mears 2013). Thus, it is
generally seen that the crime rates against the women though have decreased in a significant
manner yet even the decreased rate is alarmingly high (Pickett, Mancini and Mears 2013).
Crimes as well as various kinds of offensive behaviors against the women are
commonly seen things within the framework of the human society (Steffensmeier, Schwartz
and Roche 2013). The women of the society have been subjected to various kinds of offenses
as well as subjugation and this is perhaps one of the main reasons for the slow growth rate of
this particular segment of the society (Steffensmeier, Schwartz and Roche 2013). However,
in the recent times another pattern which is noticed within the framework of the modern
society is the various kinds of crimes as well as offences committed by the women or the
female fraternity (Steffensmeier, Schwartz and Roche 2013). The total percentage of female
arrests in the United States of America is around 20% in comparison to the more than 80% of
the offenses committed by the men (Law.jrank.org. 2018). The women, on the other hand, are
generally booked for various kinds of minor offenses like property offenses, burglary and

2GENDER INEQUALITY AND STEREOTYPES
others in comparison to the serious offenses committed by the men fraternity (Law.jrank.org.
2018). The date provided by the United States of America shows that since the 1960s less
than 15% have been charged with various kinds of serious offenses like homicide, aggravated
assaults and others (Law.jrank.org. 2018). Furthermore, another data released by the FBI
reveals that out of all the arrests made by the governmental authorities only 27% of men and
28% of women were booked for general kinds of offenses like breaking the traffic rules and
others (Law.jrank.org. 2018). Many scholars are of the opinion that this change in the trend
cam be seen as a result of the changing status quo or the power within the framework of the
modern society (Chesney-Lind and Pasko 2013). In the present times it is generally that the
process of education and the freedom which the women have got for the expression of their
thoughts have contributed much towards the liberation as well as the emancipation of the
women (Chesney-Lind and Pasko 2013). This particular fact becomes of paramount
importance when the present day contribution made by the women of the society towards not
only the fields of art and Literature but also other fields is taken into consideration (Chesney-
Lind and Pasko 2013).
The world is seeing not only the empowerment of women but also the emergence of
various kinds of theories which has further enhanced the process of the empowerment of the
women and their liberation from the folds of the male dominated society (Scarduzio et al.
2017). The opinion of Judith Butler articulated in her famous work “Gender Trouble” in
1992 is significant to note in this particular when she says that “gender is just a performance,
a social construct which was created to maintain the power balance within the society”
(Scarduzio et al. 2017). The feministic theories of Butler, Kate Millet and others have
contributed much towards the growth as well as the empowerment of women in the recent
times (Mitchell and Stewart 2013). It is a reflection of this particular fact that the women of
the society are seen on equal footing with the male members of the community and thus the

3GENDER INEQUALITY AND STEREOTYPES
various governments of the world are taking the help of the same kinds of laws and
legislations to decide or judge the actions of both the sections of the society (Mitchell and
Stewart 2013). Since the traditional times only the offenses committed by the men used to
receive attention and the offenses committed by the female fraternity was only a laughing
stock for the male fraternity (Scarduzio et al. 2017).
The concepts of inequality as well as stereotypes have played a significant role in the
process of the analysis of the female offending patterns. It is significant to note that since the
traditional times the behavior of the females have been stereotyped into the category of the
genteel sections of the society (Mitchell and Stewart 2013). Therefore, the women since the
traditional times are required to display the virtues of modesty, politeness, gentleness,
shyness and others (Chalabaev et al. 2013). This particular view of the society finds adequate
representation in the theory of “emphasized femininity”. This particular theory articulates
the view that the sole purpose of the female fraternity is to satisfy the needs and the
requirements of the male members of the society and this particular fact should be the entire
lacuna of their thought process (Chalabaev et al. 2013). Therefore, these people are of the
opinion that the women have no other existence apart from this particular fact and they
should make this particular fact the sole purpose of their lives (Chalabaev et al. 2013). The
theory of “hegemonic masculinity”, on the other hand, emphases that the male members of
the society are superior to the female members of the society and therefore they are required
to act in such a manner that befits their superior status (Kay, Matuszek and Munson 2015).
The theory also states that the male members of the society who do follow this particular
concept should be ostracized from the male fraternity (Kay, Matuszek and Munson 2015). It
is significant to note that these theories have contributed in a significant manner towards the
inequality as well as the stereotypes which the females of the human society had to face since
the ancient times.

4GENDER INEQUALITY AND STEREOTYPES
The inequality as well as the discriminations which the female members of the human
society had faced since the traditional times has contributed in a significant manner towards
the increasing number of crimes as well as the offenses committed by this particular fraternity
of the human society (Pickett, Mancini and Mears 2013). Many scholars are of the opinion
that the various acts of violence as well as the offenses committed by the women in the
present times can be seen as the acts of protest against the dominance of the male members of
the society to which they have been subjected since the traditional times (Pickett, Mancini
and Mears 2013). The emergence of the various kinds of feministic theories and also the
changing nature of the human society has made the women from the diverse sections of the
society realize that they no longer need to suffer under the dominance of the male members
of the society (Steffensmeier, Schwartz and Roche 2013). Thus, many scholars are in
agreement with the view that the various acts of offenses as well as the crimes committed by
the women can be seen as acts of protest against the traditional framework of the society
where the women are seen as objects whose sole entity rests on whether or not she is being
possessed by a wealthy man or not (Steffensmeier, Schwartz and Roche 2013). However,
recent times the works of various women authors like Virginia Woolf, Kate Millet, Judith
Butler and others has drastically modified this particular concept and it is a reflection of this
particular fact the women are trying to come out of the virtual prison which has been a part of
their identity since the traditional times (Steffensmeier, Schwartz and Roche 2013). The
authors Cohoon et al. (2011) in their article “Gender and Computing Conference Papers”
have shown that over the last forty years the percentage of women authors getting published
has increased from 7% to 27%. However, the authors further state that most of these women
authors in order to get themselves published had to take the help of the male pseudonyms. In
a way it can be said that this lack of opportunity to express themselves has also contributed in
a significant manner towards the offensive behavior which the women of the community as a

5GENDER INEQUALITY AND STEREOTYPES
whole had to face. Furthermore, in the educational sphere as well the women had to face a lot
of discrimination. For example in the sphere of education, more appropriately in the sphere of
the information technology the average percentage of women taking up these courses is only
14% which is far behind the normal percentage of men students (Khalil et al. 2015).
A critical analysis of the various offenses committed by the women of the present
times reveals the fact that the majority of these crimes or the offenses were being committed
against the male offending members of the society (Franklin and Fearn 2015). It is a
reflection of this particular fact that only 28% of the all the crimes as well as the offenses
committed by the women belonged to the category of the traffic accidents and other kinds of
minor accidents (Law.jrank.org. 2018). The majority of the crimes committed were the
property crimes as well as assaults on the male members of the society (Franklin and Fearn
2015). Many psychologists are of the opinion that these crimes can be seen as the outbursts of
the female members of the society who have been subjected to the dominance of the
members of the society for a very long and are thus finding adequate means or for that matter
any kind of means to come out of this particular kind of bondage to which they have been
subjected to for a very long time (Chalabaev et al. 2013). Therefore, it would be apt to say
that the inequality as well as the suppression which the majority of the female members of the
society have been subjected to since the traditional times have contributed in a significant
manner towards the increasingly number of crimes as well as the offenses committed by the
women of the society (Chalabaev et al. 2013). The concept of stereotypes as well as
stereotypic behaviors required of the women has also contributed in a significant manner
towards the recent change which the society is facing at the current moment. Many scholars
are of the opinion that since the traditional times various kinds of stereotypes have come to
form an inevitable part of the very identity of the women and therefore at some point of time
or the other it was inevitable that the female section of the society would try to break away

6GENDER INEQUALITY AND STEREOTYPES
from this particular behavior which was required of them (Scarduzio et al. 2017).
Furthermore, the traditional conception of masculinity as the superior as well as the dominant
of the two has also contributed much towards the present scenario. As already mentioned that
the construct of gender has been used since the traditional times to maintain the power
balance within the society and thus the male members of the society were given the superior
status. However, the emergence of the concept of femininity and the empowerment of the
women fraternity which entailed with this particular process has challenged the traditionally
held gender norms as well as the power balance of the society in a significant manner
(Scarduzio et al. 2017).
To conclude, the concepts of inequality as well as discrimination have been a part of
the kind of behavior which the women fraternity have been used since the traditional times.
Furthermore, the women since the traditional times have been required to follow a particular
kind of stereotypic behavior and they were not allowed to deviate from the norms or the rules
written down by the male members of the society. Therefore, the various offending instances
as well as the crimes committed by the female fraternity against the men members of the
society can be seen as a reflection of this particular fact. These instances can be seen as
instances of outbursts on the part of the female fraternity or more appropriately as an
expression of protest against the practices to which they have been subjected to since the
traditional times and also against the male members of the society in general.

7GENDER INEQUALITY AND STEREOTYPES
References
Chalabaev, A., Sarrazin, P., Fontayne, P., Boiché, J. and Clément-Guillotin, C., 2013. The
influence of sex stereotypes and gender roles on participation and performance in sport and
exercise: Review and future directions. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 14(2), pp.136-144.
Chesney-Lind, M. and Pasko, L., 2013. The female offender: Girls, women, and crime. Sage.
Cohoon, J.M., Nigai, S. and Kaye, J.J., 2011. Gender and computing conference
papers. Communications of the ACM, 54(8), pp.72-80.
Franklin, T.W. and Fearn, N.E., 2015. Sentencing Asian offenders in state courts: The
influence of a prevalent stereotype. Crime & Delinquency, 61(1), pp.96-120.
Kay, M., Matuszek, C. and Munson, S.A., 2015, April. Unequal representation and gender
stereotypes in image search results for occupations. In Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM
Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems(pp. 3819-3828). ACM.
Khalil, W., Nayab, S., Naeed, T., Khan, S. and Khalil, S., 2015, December. Female
representation in computer science and information technology. In Information and
Communication Technologies (ICICT), 2015 International Conference on (pp. 1-10). IEEE.
Kruttschnitt, C., 2013. Gender and crime. Annual Review of Sociology, 39, pp.291-308.
Law.jrank.org. 2018. Gender and Crime - Differences Between Male And Female Offending
Patterns. [online] Available at: http://law.jrank.org/pages/1250/Gender-Crime-Differences-
between-male-female-offending-patterns.html [Accessed 26 May 2018].
Miller, J., 2014. Feminist criminology. In Controversies in critical criminology (pp. 33-46).
Routledge.

8GENDER INEQUALITY AND STEREOTYPES
Mitchell, A.B. and Stewart, J.B., 2013. The efficacy of all-male academies: Insights from
critical race theory (CRT). Sex roles, 69(7-8), pp.382-392.
Pickett, J.T., Mancini, C. and Mears, D.P., 2013. Vulnerable victims, monstrous offenders,
and unmanageable risk: Explaining public opinion on the social control of sex
crime. Criminology, 51(3), pp.729-759.
Scarduzio, J.A., Carlyle, K.E., Harris, K.L. and Savage, M.W., 2017. “Maybe She Was
Provoked” Exploring Gender Stereotypes About Male and Female Perpetrators of Intimate
Partner Violence. Violence against women, 23(1), pp.89-113.
Steffensmeier, D.J., Schwartz, J. and Roche, M., 2013. Gender and twenty-first-century
corporate crime: Female involvement and the gender gap in Enron-era corporate
frauds. American Sociological Review, 78(3), pp.448-476.
Trolan, E.J., 2013. The impact of the media on gender inequality within sport. Procedia-
Social and Behavioral Sciences, 91, pp.215-227.