Gender

The Social Construction of Gender

Whereas sex is defined as the biological and physiological division between men and women, gender refers to the disparity between males and females that is socially constructed and reinforced by institutions, culture, and everyday interactions. Gender differences are most apparent when examining the social stereotypes that result in different attitudes, actions, and expectations of masculinity and femininity.

In fact, sex and gender are often used interchangeably by researchers, perhaps because of the difficulty in discerning whether differences between women and men can be attributed to biological or sociological forces. For example, whereas it may be argued that men are more aggressive than women because the former have higher levels of testosterone, it also is true that disparity in aggression and violence are influenced by differences in socialization processes. Parents, teachers, and friends often reward the aggressive behavior of boys and discourage them from appearing weak or sensitive, while encouraging girls to be “nice” and refrain from physical displays of anger. These examples illustrate the need for a closer examination of our beliefs about the innate natures of women and men and increased awareness of the ways in which society influences these perceptions.

Gender Differences in Offending

Likewise, gender disparities in offending have long been noted by criminologists, but traditional theorists assumed that the overrepresentation of men in the criminal justice system was a simple reflection of male biology and needed no further exploration. By contrast, recent theorizing about the causes of crime, particularly that produced by feminist theorists, emphasizes that a better understanding of the relationship between gender and crime will improve our ability to predict and prevent criminal involvement.

Despite their varying theoretical perspectives, criminologists agree that men commit the majority of crimes. Numerous sources, including arrest records, victimization reports, and self-report surveys, provide evidence for this claim. According to 1995 data from the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), men accounted for approximately 81 percent of all arrests and were arrested more frequently than women for all crimes except prostitution (Steffensmeier 2001). Although self-report studies reflect somewhat smaller differences in male and female participation in crime, data from the National Youth Survey—a longitudinal study of adolescents living across the United States—reveal that women are underrepresented in every category of delinquency and crime (Canter 1982). Similarly, information from the 1994 National Crime Victimization Survey also reflects a gendered involvement in crime, with female perpetrators accounting for only 5 percent of all burglaries, 8 percent of all robberies, and 15 percent of all simple assaults (Steffensmeier 2001). The largest disparity between female and male crime rates is participation in violent offenses. UCR data demonstrate that women accounted for only 13.5 percent of all arrests for violent offenses in 1995 (versus 26 percent of all arrests for property offenses), including only 9 percent of all homicides.

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