Women Liberation Contribute to Increased Violent Crime among Women
Introduction
Women have been continuously in search of more freedom and have consequently obtained more freedom. Since thirty years ago, women have made implausible progress. However, in many scenarios, women still feel inferior to men because some men choose to treat women as the “weaker” sex. Additionally, men can sometimes give the impression that they are the superior sex, and women notice very quickly. Currently, crude and sexiest remarks are made either for fun or intentional. Therefore, these criticisms make women feel inferior or fight right back (scenario termed as the battle of sexes) (Staurowsky, 2016). Respect is the ultimate desire that all women require from men. Therefore, a man should be sensitive to his female colleagues’ feelings. This narrows down to respecting a woman’s talent and realizing that she can achieve many things the same as their male counterparts. However, the women’s liberation apart from being advantageous to them and society has consequences accrued to it, such as increased crime rates.
The women’s liberation hypothesis suggests that due to female societal emancipation, women’s offending will increase. First, due to the declining gender gap, the men’s offending has declined to approach the lower level, characterizing women’s offending instead of the reverse (Wang, & Stamatel, 2019). The trend is parallel to the feminist-inspired observation that increased gender equality, reducing men’s “abnormally” high levels of offending. Moreover, female convictions are primarily linked with control extension exercised by the judicial system concerning less severe offenses (Allum, & Marchi, 2018). The emergence of feminist criminology has been faced with a significant challenge to the old notion about women’s offending’s distinctive nature. Moreover, this development has faced societal moralistic control criticism. If the gender gap were based on a biological basis, it would not have much impact as it currently does. However, feminist criminologists have suggested that upsurge in female crime share could result from gender equality (Schram, 2013). This interpretation was later challenged. The paper will be focused on assessing if the women’s violent offending is increasing to the level similar to the men’s.
Women’s Liberation Hypothesis
The women’s liberation hypothesis attempts to link women’s liberation with female crime rates. There are various explanations regarding the increasing female crime rate. First, there is an increase in women’s opportunities to engage in the labor force and therefore escalated chances to indulge in specific crime types. Second, the changing self-concept and identity of women and girls result from the consciousness-raising aspects of the movement. John Hagan and his colleagues created the Power-Control theory that incorporated conflict-oriented theory and social control theory (Hauser & Peck, 2017). The theory tried to explain gender differences in delinquency rates that entailed family dynamics. Hagan notably argued that the youths from families featured as patriarchal showed more considerable gender differences in delinquency rates than the youth from more egalitarian families.
The feminist criminology evolved principally from liberal feminists to realize and objectify that gender was essentially objected and not included in the criminology theory. Three significant challenges were discovered that needed to be addressed by the feminist criminologist. These include the constant search for the scientific basis of theories of men and women’s criminal behavior, reevaluation of gender and racial or ethnic basis in the social sciences, and development of the new definition of crime. Burgess-1Proctor suggested that the contemporary third-wave feminist criminologist must form their basis on the previous feminist criminologist. Burgess-1Proctor added that feminist criminology should include an intersectional framework, influenced by multiracial feminism, which included defining social features such as race, class, gender, sexuality, nationality, and age.
Research Review on the Women’s Violence
Estrada, Bäckman, & Nilsson’s (2016) article was focused on explaining how the gender gap in crime has changed, principally using conviction data for different Swedish birth cohorts. The women’s liberation hypothesis and increased gender equality are based on gender equality that constitutes pertinent explanation (viewed concerning the general crime trends characterized in this period). The article took the form of visible crime. The analysis was directed at violent crime and theft offenses. The two crimes have exponentially increased since the 1950s in Sweden, along with other Western societies. However, recently there have been diverging trends in different societies; theft offenses have declined since the 1990s, but the violent crimes have increased (Estrada et al., 2016). The primary data was composed of convictions of different birth cohorts over one’s life. The article illuminated relevant trends that have currently been utilized, despite the potential it avails to provide complementary insights regarding the declining gender gap. The data was based on the historical series of individuals convicted of offenses between 1841- 2010 and sanctions and income data for three birth cohorts, born in 1965, 1975, and 1985. The historical time series relating convicted men and women in Sweden highlights a vivid decline in the gender in violent and theft crime that started gaining moment in the mid-20th century (Estrada et al., 2016).
A closer view of the trends among men and women convicted of assault indicates how unlikely it was for women to be taken to the courts for such a crime during the 1866- 1950 period. The data corresponds with the fact that the judicial system dealt primarily with serious incidents entailing between non-acquaintances. In this period, the levels f violence among females appear to decline while the men have a much stable pattern until the early 1900s that there is a sharp decline. The low conviction rates among women have two implications; the gender gap varies considerably from year to year. The ratio of violent crime amongst men and women from 1866 to 1950 was, on average, 70:1. Later, the gender gap in assault since World War II started to decline. First, the decline result from women’s conviction increase concerning the men’s due to the low base-line values among the women. Second, the gender gap decline arises from the constant increase in convictions among women, while the conviction levels are constant among the men from 1990 to 2010.
The article focused on evaluating whether any narrowing of the arrest gender gap arises from types of offenses that vary in reliability, victimization data, and across two post-arrest criminal justice stages (Estrada et al., 2016). The advanced time-series analyses from 1980 to 2003 support constructionist posts. First, there has been little increase in women’s rates for more reliable homicide, robbery, and rape offenses among all sources. Second, the assault gender gap narrows for arrests but is stable in the victimization data. Lastly, the assault gender gap has narrowed moderately among the convictions, but the imprisonment is stable, which shows spill-over impacts among more comprehensive arrest policies. Currently, there has been a greater female representation in criminal assault arrests. These include proactive policing that target and formally responds to minor violence and in private scenarios, interventionist developmental epistemologies that distort differences among violence types and situations, increase in the social movement that has revealed the “hidden” victims, law and political communications that stress on increased accountability and the cline in the male in comparison to female violence since the late 1990s.
The article analysis that was based on the available longitudinal sources, arrests, prison admissions, convictions, and victim reports, supported the constructionist belief of the policy alteration hypothesis that changing enforcement practices such as citizen reporting are more pronounced than the alterations in the women’s underlying behavior (Schwartz, Steffensmeier, & Feldmeyer, 2009). These variations are responsible for the recent arrest trends in women’s violence. The data indicated that the most severe types of violent crimes, such as homicide, rape, and robbery, the female rates have not been increasing and little changes in the gender gap. The article revealed that for the reported offense, homicide, female rates are smaller currently than twenty years ago, and the gender gap has widened a little. However, only assault trends differ by this data type, the official compared to private data, and regard to the criminal justice system stages. In summary, the research highlighted three points concerning women’s liberation hypothesis. First, recent net widening policy shifts and expanding social definitions of violence have resulted in increased proneness in arresting and sanctioning female offenders, especially for criminal assault (Dodge, 2019). Second, the greater vulnerability of females to law mobilization during arresting is slightly removed. Lastly, future trends in arresting women for violence are likely to depend less on women’s crime than the net-widening effects highlighted.
.Women’s Liberation Hypothesis Evidence Evaluation from the Articles
The findings from Estrada et al., (2016) article, (the study was conducted in one of the countries globally were there an almost gender equality refuted the hypothesis that the declining gender gap in crime results from an increase in the number of women committing offenses. About the long historical time series that describes trends in the gender gap for theft and violent crime in Sweden, the analysis has demonstrated the trend after World War II, which was unique (Rennison, 2009). In this period, there has been a continuous and substantial decline in the gender gap. Similarly, the declining gender gap in crime has been developed by different processes during different parts of the post-war period. During the first half of the post-war period, the process was featured by relative differences: the women’s registered crime increased from significantly lower levels than those found among men and women. Therefore, the trends of the first post-war decades do not need the same type of gender precise clarification as those of the most recent 30 years. The article indicates the relative significance of behavioral alteration and society’s reaction to crime; the central issue is how trends witnessed since the early 1980s can be comprehended.
Other Findings
In comparison to the men’s aggressive behavior, there is relatively little knowledge of women’s aggression. In most cases, aggression and violence are often considered as male issues. However, women frequently engage in other types of aggressive behavior (Selmini, 2020). There has been substantial information showing that women use indirect aggression that is the equivalent or greater extent than men. Indirect aggression occurs typically when an individual harms another while covering up the aggressive intent. Some indirect aggression examples include spreading false rumors, gossiping, excluding some individuals from social groups, making insinuation in the absence of direct accusations, and criticizing other people’s appearance and personality (Verona, & Vitale, 2018). This form of behavior can result in an increased crime rate among women and declining in the crime gap between men and women.
Conclusion
In summary, the paper has highlighted several factors explaining the women’s violent offending that has increased to the level similar to the men’s. First, there is an increase in the opportunities for women to engage in the labor force and therefore escalated chances to indulge in specific crime types. Second, the changing self-concept and identity of women and girls as a result of the consciousness-raising aspects of the movement. John Hagan and his colleagues created the Power-Control theory that incorporated conflict-oriented theory along with social control theory. The theory tried to explain gender differences in delinquency rates that entailed family dynamics. In support of women’s liberation hypothesis, during the first half of the post-war period, the process was featured by relative differences that are the women’s registered crime increased from significantly lower levels than those found among men and women. Therefore, the trends of the first post-war decades do not need the same type of gender precise clarification as those of the most recent 30 years. The findings indicate that the relative significance of behavioral alteration and society’s reaction to crime, the central issue becomes how trends witnessed since the early 1980s can be comprehended.
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