Female Gangs

History of Female Gangs

The recent history of female gangs can be traced back to the 1960s when female members acted as helpmates to male gang members. Although the females considered themselves to be authentic gang members, they were most often limited to duties such as sewing gang insignia on male members' jackets, running errands, and relaying messages, or they were restricted to the role of the girlfriend of a gang member. During the early years, this was sufficient for most female gang members, but as time progressed many of them began to desire a more prominent role within their gang.

As female gangs struggled to emerge from the shadows of their better-known counterparts, they fought to shed the image held by many outsiders that relegated them to the role of sexual partners for male gang members. Although some literature supports this assertion, some female gang members in surveys have strongly denied the claim that their primary value to the gang family was sexual in nature. Female gang members struggled not only to remove the stigma of being considered a sex object but also to prove their worth and value to the gang.

Female Gang Statistics

The 1980s brought an increase in the number of gangs across the United States, and the number of female gangs increased substantially during this period. This trend corresponded with the nationwide increase in juvenile delinquency, as the number of gangs proliferated and the level of gang violence rose to unimaginable heights. Although it was widely accepted among social scientists that female gang membership increased throughout the years, it has been difficult to accurately portray the number of females who hold membership in a gang because of the way that gangs and gang membership are defined and studied.

The methods used to research gang affiliation have contributed to the difficulty in accurately determining the number of female gang members [Page 292]across the United States. One of the most widely used methods of gang research is the survey method. Associated problems with this method include the exaggeration of gang membership and gang activities by those female members surveyed and conversely, the distrust that some gang members may have of the researcher. Criminologists have also suggested that it was possible for the number of female gang members to be underreported because some law enforcement agencies are hesitant to label females as gang members.

It has also been difficult to accurately portray the number of female gangs because of the way in which gangs are defined. While some female groups related to researchers that they were gangs, it has been difficult to distinguish whether they belonged to true gangs or loosely formed groups. Pop media has made the gang life attractive through portrayals of gang culture by means of insignia, clothing, gestures, and tattoos. Movies, music, and music videos present gang life in a way that captures the attention and fills a void for some juveniles. As a result, they copy what the pop media portrays as a gang and combine that with their limited ideas of what constitutes a gang. Not only are youth influenced by pop media's portrayal of gang members, so is the general public. Pop media contribute to perceptions that most gangs are overwhelmingly made up of minority youth. However, some groups are mistakenly identified as authentic gangs when they are merely loosely formed groups. It has also been difficult to accurately quantify the number of female gang members because of the propensity of researchers to focus only on researching the activities of male gangs. Miller suggested that up to 10% of all gang members were females. Recently, researchers have suggested that female gang membership has increased, albeit at a slower rate than male gangs.

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