12. Gender and crime

This chapter discusses the extensive consideration given to the different roles played by men and women in the commission of crime. Feminist writers first highlighted the fact that most criminologists, in assuming that crime is a male phenomenon, had largely ignored female crime. If it was discussed at all, the focus was on the biological given of sex, rather than the social construction of gender. A number of writers have also started to consider the part that different assumptions of male gender roles—‘masculinities’—play in the commission of crime. Different explanations have been offered for the earlier neglect of women’s crime. One reason may be that official criminal statistics have routinely shown that women are convicted of crimes to a far lesser extent than men.

"Women's issue" in Russia in the context of the methodology of social construction of gender

The article demonstrates that the gender approach is one of the important components of the methodology of socio-cultural dynamics, which allows analyzing cultural processes and mechanisms from the point of view of male and female constructs and their hierarchy in culture and society. The materials of the article can be used as a basis for building a methodology for gender research both in final qualification papers and in theses for the degree of PhD Candidate.

Parties, issues, and power: women’s partisan representation on German parliamentary committees

This study examines the representation of women Members of Parliament on parliamentary committees in the German Bundestag since 1990. In line with theories on the social construction of gender, our descriptive analyses show that women Members of Parliament tend to be over-represented on committees handling issues such as health and family, and under-represented on committees handling issues such as foreign and legal affairs and defence. However, party differences in the over- and under-representation of women on certain committees occur. Gender segregation is strongest within the conservative parties, which also tend to have the lowest proportion of women, and weakest within the left-wing parties.