Men and women have always been distinctively different because of biological differences. However, Oakley (1985) believes society has amplified these differences through the expectations placed upon each sex. Due to these notions, different behaviour and attitudes are ‘normalised’ depending on an individual’s sex. As a result, British culture portrays the ‘masculine’ male and the ‘feminine’ female. This is a “social process of dividing up people…[into] sexed identities” (Abbott and Wallace, 1991:11). The process of separating individuals into these categories has occurred through institutions, for example, schools, to condition the ‘correct’ behaviour of each sex before joining society. Buswell (1989) suggests that society has constructed the ideals of what women should be; such as: caring, nurturing, subordinate and dependent upon males. Society has always controlled women, dictating what they should wear, look like and how they should act (Burgess and Borgida, 1999). This is predominantly done through the media, it is used as a tool to reinforce gendered expectations and maintain social order. Certain individuals resist these social expectations placed upon them and decide not to conform to collective pressure. This is when “the Criminal Justice System steps in, both rectifying and enforcing the gender order” (Chesney-Lind and Eliason, 2006: 43). Seemingly, when women stray from these ‘roles’ the Criminal Justice System deems it more severe as they have deviated not only from the law, but they have also broken the social contract. Such deviation from societal norms often leads to harsher sentencing for certain crimes associated with societal expectations of women. For example, in cases of child abuse/neglect, disorderly conduct and offences of criminal damage (including arson) (Atwood, 2000). This disparity is reflected in the prison population as 85% of women in prison are nonviolent offenders, in contrast to 70% of men, with 71% of the total prison population being non-violent offenders (Prison Reform, 2018). The data presented strongly suggests that women are more harshly sentenced than men for minor crimes. Not only are women treated harshly by the Criminal Justice System for failing to comply with society, they are also negatively constructed by the media. Jewkes (2015) argues that the media uses eight different standard narratives to portray women offenders. Some of these are: the ‘mad cow’, ‘bad wife’, ‘evil manipulator’ and ‘non-agent’. These tactics are used to distort and exaggerate the breach of social convention by the offender, in order to create a consensus that the behaviour conducted is unacceptable. These two blog posts examine the gender disparity in society which impacts on the Criminal Justice System where inequality leads to the harsher punishment of women. The media is used as a tool to reinforce these gender norms and expectations. One dominant belief is that this is to manipulate women’s behaviour and to reinforce the social hierarchy, ensuring that there is not a competition for power. This blog uses contemporary and a historical cases to illustrate the similarities in treatment of women maintained overtime. In turn, this supports that there is a gender difference regarding roles and expectations within society. The blog draws predominantly on Jewkes (2015) work on women offenders’ portrayal in the media. However, the piece further reflects on wider opinions and views of the media, society and the Criminal Justice System, all in which contributes to the suppression of women.

Historically, there was a predominant time of unrest for women, this was in the early 20th century, resulting in the creation of the Suffragette movement. At the forefront of this ‘rebellion’ were Emmeline Pankhurst, Emily Wilding Davison and Mary Leigh. Their aim was equality for women; allowing them to have their say in the political sphere. Demonstrations and protests were seen as deviant and going against the accepted societal ‘norm’ of submissive behaviour.

However, Emily Wilding Davison broke away from social convention as protests seemed unsuccessful in gaining political attention. She took dramatic actions in order to receive publicity for the cause, her actions went from deviant to criminal. She began by setting fire to post-boxes outside Parliament for which she received a custodial sentence of six months. Her final bid for attention was when she threw herself under the King’s horse during the Epsom Derby, which resulted in mass publicity, below illustrates the media’s response toward Davison’s act.

Figure 1: Morning Post headline 5th June 1913 (Source: Another Nickel In The Machine, 2009: online).

Figure 2:  The Suffragette-15th June, 1913 (Source: Simkin, 1997: online)

Figure 1 showing the Morning Post headline on the 5th June 1913 (Source: Another Nickel In The Machine, 2009: online) heavily reflects attitudes of the time toward women. First of all, the tabloid uses the word ‘mad’ in the headline making it prominent, specifically selected as a consequence of Davison’s failure to conform with societal norms. She is stigmatised as unstable in order to discredit both her and the justifications for her actions. Another reason as to why this is used is to isolate the incident from ‘normal’ women’s behaviour. Davison’s inability to conform with society’s expectations insinuates that there must be something mentally wrong with her as “everyone else is able to conduct themselves appropriately” (Payne, 2013:37). The newspaper distances society from Davison’s undesirable actions through “labelling and out-casting” (Hutton, 2010:11). The way Davison is portrayed supports the ‘mad cow’ narrative that Jewkes (2015) has presented. However, Jewkes notes that these narratives exist and are used but fails to explain why this is the case. Thornham (2007) proposes that the media are controlling women’s decisions and acts by ridiculing or vilifying ‘wrong’ behaviour. He asserts that the media is forcing women to conform to these societal ideals through fear of being singled out, in order to maintain society’s structures by manipulating behaviour so that power and hierarchy remains the same.    

Figure 1 also helps identify gender disparity during the era of the Suffragettes, because the articles that covered this tragic event were all written by men; except Figure 2 which presents the newspaper written by the Suffragettes on the 15th June 1913 (Source: Simkin, 1997: online). As such, men’s beliefs and opinions dominated and influenced the general public. This was extremely different to the Suffragette newspaper which was overshadowed and ignored as it presented a ‘controversial’ narrative of the event and a minority publication. Figure 1 is a primary source written by a male demonstrating the approach used in order to impose their views upon women. Newspapers have often been used as a form of propaganda by powerful males to mould women’s behaviour (Sacco, 1995). However, there are issues regarding reliability of newspaper sources, as events are exaggerated to seek attention and increase circulation. Also, the writer generally selects interesting stories that the readers want to see and often agree with. This article is also limited as it only publishes stories of white women, it fails to provide a pattern or insight into the perspectives regarding gender intersectionality such as: class, race or sexuality.

Newspapers, the main source of media at the time, suppress women into the aforementioned ‘roles’ to maintain social hierarchy and structure where men are in a position of power and wish to maintain such standing. At the time of the Suffragette movement all high-ranking positions; Parliament, Judiciary and even the Monarchy were occupied by men. Further down Figure 1 it states that: “The King made immediate inquiries regarding his jockey”. This quote is extremely significant as it illustrates men’s perceptions of women. The King made no reference to the woman involved showing his total disregard for the ‘inferior’ sex. His attitude suggests that women do not concern him and can be replaced. The monarchy is held in high esteem by society, and therefore, the King’s thoughts and feelings toward women echo the general consensus. These preconceived notions and biases towards women are translated into the Criminal Justice System, primarily through Judges who act upon these concepts and stereotypes of women when making decisions regarding punishment. These beliefs are illustrated through harsh punishment of women who deviate from their expected ‘roles’. For example, if Davison lived, many alleged that she would have been charged with endangering life and incurred the maximum penalty. The Criminal Justice System at this time was enduring a power struggle dynamic as they punished women fighting for equality. Roles in the system were enforced by men who did not wish to relinquish this power and used legislation to continue the suppression of women toward maintaining social order.  

According to the NSPCC (2019) sixty-eight children per year are killed due to child abuse or neglect, commonly perpetrated by a parent or step-parent. Children younger than one are the most likely age group to be the victims of murder, closely followed by young men. A heavily published case in recent years was Baby P. This was a case of neglect and abuse which lead to the death of seventeen-month-old Peter Connelly. His mother was convicted of causing the death of a child; she was given an indeterminant sentence with a minimum fixed term of five years imprisonment. There were two co-defendants: the mother’s partner, Barker, and the partner’s brother, Owen. Both received custodial sentences for their contribution toward Baby P’s death. Beneath shows the media reactions towards this case.  

By examining the newspapers above, there seems to be a big disparity between gender and who is reported by the media. In this case, it is predominantly the women offender who is given more publicity compared to her male accomplices. This inequality appears unjust due to the fact they all were charged with the same crime. As a result, this poses the question as to why women offenders receive more media attention. Miller (1998) proposes that the crime committed was more severe than that of her male counter parts, even though it is the same offence. This is because she has violated society’s expectation by failing to protect her son. Furthermore, society tolerates men breaking the law as societal attitudes have normalized this behaviour to be ‘expected’(Russel et al., 1995). The public’s perception of a criminal is male as they are believed to be ‘more capable’ of committing a crime. These perceptions are reaffirmed by the prison population as 95% of inmates are male (GOV.UK, 2019). When reporting on crime the media see many cases involving a male perpetrator, as consequence, this becomes ‘normal’ and nothing new. Therefore, when there is a female offender it is unusual, so it becomes newsworthy. However, the way in which Connelly is presented in the media also reinforces Jewkes’s (2015) theory of Media Misogyny. Connelly was portrayed as a ‘non-agent’ and the images used depicted her as having an ‘absence of physical attraction’. Russell (2012) offers a reason as to why the media portray women offenders negatively; he believes that the newspapers are vocalising their disgust and shock toward the situation through public shaming. He implies that women are held to much higher standards in society than men. Subsequently, when women fail to meet these standards by becoming criminal, it is seen as a ‘double offence’, as they did not only break the law, they also strayed from society’s expectations (Sokoloff and Price, 2004). In the case of Connelly, she was considered so abnormal the media dehumanised her to demonstrate that “no ‘woman’ would behave in such a way” (Selfe and Burke, 2001:34). The reasons why women offenders receive more media attention is because they are challenging society’s stereotypes and perceptions of women. Their behaviour strays beyond what is acceptable and expected of them by society. As a result of this, it captures the media’s attention since it is ‘unexpected’ behaviour conducted by women.

 The media influences the Criminal Justice System, especially when sentencing an offender. Views and opinions of society are reflected by the media which in turn are expressed in the courtroom by the Judge. These societal norms and values then dictate how the Judge sees the severity of the crime. Women are not only punished for crimes they have committed but also penalised for deviating from their expected roles set out by female stereotypes. Daly (1994) deem this excessive punishment since they are harshly sentenced for breaking societal rules and infringing on the law. The Criminal Justice System are tough on those mothers who are convicted of child abuse. Jewkes (2015) highlights that society finds it hard to comprehend that a woman can harm a child, this lack of understanding is reflected in women being punished severely. Moreover, these views reflect a gender disparity in the Criminal Justice System based on gender norms and expectation. Males are only punished for their crimes, compared to their female counterparts, as society accepts that males are more likely to offend (Warren, 1983). However, Hucklesby (2013) points out that harsh punishment is less prevalent for females in the Criminal Justice today. Women are currently occupying more positions of power in the Criminal Justice System than ever before and with this the sentencing of female offenders is less male dominated. Women Judges identify this inequality and sentence female offenders more appropriately for the crimes committed. Nevertheless, there are still more men than women in powerful positions in the Criminal Justice System (Courts and Tribunal Judiciary, 2017) which result in this inequality remaining but to a lesser extent. The Criminal Justice System is still being used by men to supress women into specific roles through harsh punishment of those who deviate.

The assessment process has been extremely frustrating and difficult. Primarily, starting the project by deciding on the topic of interest and narrowing it down to a specific direction and envisioning what the end result will be. However, once I had a topic and the specific elements I wanted to include there were a few issues I endured. First and for most, only having approximately 750 words per blog became a problem. This is because I had many aspects I wanted to cover and explain but it became problematic in which ideas I used and others I had to leave out. Not only this, I struggled to communicate effectively my ideas in a cohesive way so that it flowed. The way in which I presented my blog seemed ‘bity’ and a little confusing. Along the way I changed my direction a few times and seemed to go off on little tangents. For example, I started to talk about the reliability of the source I was using which was not relevant to the point I was trying to make or to the wider topic. This also occurred when researching for my blog; I digressed which became time consuming and annoying as I gathered more information that I could not use. For instance, when I was exploring the social hierarchy which led me to reading political party manifestos and what strategies are used to seek the public vote. If I was to change anything about my blog, I would be more specific with my topic because I overcomplicated the subject of choice and was too ambitious. Minimally, I would improve my blog by using primary sources collective by myself, making it more unique and unusual.

However, there are some aspects of my blog that I am pleased with. Firstly, I maintain a formal style through out which reflects professionalism and consistency. I also excessively planned my blog spending a lot of time and effort looking for appropriate sources and media that I could use, so the blog posts would be exciting and interesting to read. Throughout my blog I have used a range of scholars’ work and research so that my blogs had depth and understanding. In addition, this demonstrates that I have done a lot of research and reading reflecting my commitment and dedication to the project. As a result, the piece of work I have produced is more accurate and factual. Moreover, I have thought beyond the topic of gender by doing this it shows broader understanding of my project. I examined structural issues and the wider context in why the media and society create and maintain gendered roles. Subsequently, how this inequality creates a ‘unjust’ Criminal Justice System.

 Overall, this project has been very difficult as initially I was not confident in my idea and the concept I chose. Additionally, I think that the project was tough as I found it difficult to stick with my idea and not to add too much ‘irrelevant’ information. I really disliked gathering information for this blog as I could not envision what the end result would look like as there were endless possibilities to the direction my blog could have taken. However, I am happy with what I have produced as I believe that the blog is interesting and insightful.

Resource List

Abbott, P. and Wallace, C. (1991) Gender, Power and Sexuality. Basingstoke: Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

Alamy. (2015) After much campaigning women were finally given the right to vote on 2nd July 1928. The Guardian. [Online image] [Accessed on 19th October 2019] https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2015/jun/22/how-to-teach-the-suffragettes

Another Nickel In The Machine. (2009) Morning Post headline 5th June 1913. [Online image] [Accessed on 19th October 2019] http://www.nickelinthemachine.com/2009/03/the-epsom-derby-and-the-deaths-of-emily-wilding-davison-and-herbert-jones/

Atwood, J. E. (2000) Too much time: women in prison. London: Phaidon.

Belam, M. (2009) Baby P killer images lose their impact online. Currybetdotnet.  [Online image] [Accessed on 24th October 2019] http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2009/08/baby-p-killer-images-lose-thei.php

Burgess, D. and Borgida, E. (1999) ‘Who women are, who women should be: Descriptive and prescriptive gender stereotyping sex discrimination.’ Psychology, Public Policy and Law, 5(3) pp. 665-692.

Buswell, C. (1989) Women in Contemporary Society. Basingstoke: Macmillan Education.

Chesney-Lind, M. and Eliason, M. (2006) ‘From invisible to incorrigible: The demonization of marginalized women and girls.’ Crime, Media, Culture: An International Journal, 2(1) pp. 29-47.

Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. (2017) Judicial Diversity Statistics 2017. [Online] [Accessed 20th October 2019] https://www.judiciary.uk/about-the-judiciary/who-are-the-judiciary/diversity/judicial-diversity-statistics-2017/

Daly, K. (1994) Gender, Crime and Punishment. London: Yale University Press.

Dobash, R. P., Dobash, R. E. and Noaks, L. (1995) Gender and Crime. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.

GOV.UK. (2019) Prison population figures: 2019. [Online] [Accessed 22nd October 2019]  https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-population-figures-2019

Hucklesby, A. (2013) Criminal Justice. 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hutton, W. (2010) Them and us: changing Britain- why we need a fair society. London: Abacus Publishers.

Independent (2019) International Women’s Day: Remembering suffragette Emily Davison, who threw herself under the King’s horse at Epsom. [Online video] [Accessed on 19th October 2019] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/international-womens-day-suffragette-emily-davison-women-suffrage-death-epsom-derby-kings-horse-a8812551.html

Jewkes, Y. (2015) Media and Crime. 3rd ed., Los Angeles: SAGE Publications.

Linford, P. (2009) Local and national media name Baby P Killers. HoldtheFrontPage.co.uk. [Online image] [Accessed on 24th October 2019] https://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2009/news/local-and-national-media-name-baby-p-killers/

Miller, S. (1998) Crime control and women: feminist implications of criminal justice policy. London: SAGE Publications.

Movieclips Trailers. (2015) Suffragette Official Trailer #1 (2015)- Carey Mulligan, Meryl Streep Drama HD. [Online video] [Accessed on 23rd October 2019] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=056FI2Pq9RY

NSPCC. (2019) Child deaths due to abuse or neglect: statistics briefing. [Online] [Accessed 24th October 2019] https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/research-resources/statistics-briefings/child-deaths-abuse-neglect/

Oakley, A. (1985) Sex, Gender and Society. 3rd ed., Aldershot: Gower Publishing Co. Ltd.

Payne, G. (2013) Social Division. 3rd ed., Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

Prison Reform Trust (2018) Prison: the facts- Bromley Briefings Summer 2018. [Online] [Accessed on 18th October 2019]  http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/Bromley%20Briefings/Summer%202018%20factfile.pdf

Richell, T. (2019) International Women’s Day: Remembering suffragette Emily Davison, who threw herself under the King’s horse at Epsom. [Online video] [Accessed on 23rd October 2019] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/international-womens-day-suffragette-emily-davison-women-suffrage-death-epsom-derby-kings-horse-a8812551.html

Russel, B. (2012) Perceptions of Female Offenders: How Stereotypes and Social Norms Affect Criminal Justice Responses. New York: Springer Science & Business Media.

Sacco, V. (1995) ‘Media Constructions of Crime.’ The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 539(1) pp. 141- 154.

Selfe, D. W. and Burke, V. (2001) Perspectives on sex, crime and society. 2nd ed., London: Cavendish.

Simkin, J. (1997) The Suffragette- 15th June, 1913. Spartacus Educational. [Online image] [Accessed on 19th October 2019] https://spartacus-educational.com/Wdavison.htm

Sky News. (2009) Named and Shamed: Baby P’s Killers’ Identities are Revealed. [Online video] [Accessed on 25th October 2019] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MVS5GXswYU

Sokoloff, N. and Price, B. (2004) The criminal justice system and women: offenders, prisoners, victims, and workers. 3rd ed., Boston: McGraw-Hill.

The National Archives. (1906) Suffragettes Annie Kenny and Christabel Pankhurst 1906. [Online image] [19th October 2019] https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/womens-suffrage/

The Sun. (2013) Tracey Connelly has been freed from jail. [Online image] [Accessed on 24th October 2019] https://www.itv.com/news/update/2013-10-31/report-baby-p-mother-released-from-prison/

Thornham, S. (2007) Women, Feminism and the Media. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Ltd.

Warren, M. K. (1983) ‘Comparing female and male offenders.’ Criminal Justice Review, 8(1) pp. 141- 157.