Gender Responsive Justice: A Critical Appraisal

• In Event: Women, Gender, and the Justice System

Abstract

At the end of the twentieth century a growing number of nations, states and organisations began to acknowledge that existing criminal justice and penal practices have not been sufficiently attentive to women’s needs and have discriminated against women as a result. Consequently the concept of 'gender-responsive justice' - an orientation to working with women and girls which was based around a consideration of the special needs of women as prisoners and their particular pathways to offending was developed as a response. This paper explores the development of this concept, the theories which have informed it, policy arenas in which gender-responsive justice has been attempted and the practices of gender-responsive justice which have subsequently emerged. For many theorists this perspective posed a radical alternative to masculinist criminal justice systems and heralded an exciting departure from entrenched punitive and harmful ways of approaching people who break the law. The paper also examines the different arguments which have been used to attack or critique the concept, raising fundamental questions concerning the possibility of attaining justice for women and as to whether gender-sensitive systems can or should be developed to improve justice for all.

Author

• Karen Frances Evans, University of Liverpool