Gender Equality Behind Bars

Gender Equality Behind Bars represents the first analysis of prison and immigration detention policies, broadly identified as penality policies, within the context of gender policy studies. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, it provides a roadmap for better understanding penality policy from feminist and gendered perspectives. An introductory chapter examines the paradoxical relationship between gender equality and life behind bars for women. This is followed by ten in-depth case-studies on gender and penality policies in a unique line-up of countries in the Global North (Denmark, Poland, Portugal, Canada, the UK and Spain) and the Global South (Zimbabwe, Uruguay and Peru). The comparative conclusion identifies cross-national and cross-sectoral trends and proposes a research agenda for a gendered approach to penality policies. Issues including discrimination against women prisoners and women migrant detainees, gender-bias in prison environments and potential for gender transformation “behind bars” are covered throughout the book. Combining theoretical and empirical evidence, gender equality behind bars will appeal to scholars and students of public policy, gender studies, anthropology and criminology, as well as those interested in penal policies, criminal justice and punishment.

Ana Ballesteros-Pena is Ramon y Cajal Research Fellow in the Department of Sociology and Communication Studies, University of A Coruna, Spain. María Bustelo is Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Administration at the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain. Amy G. Mazur is Associate Researcher at LIEPP, Sciences Po Paris, France and Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Washington State University.

Chapter 1.- Putting Gender and Penality Policy Under the Comparative Microscope.- PART I.- PRISONS.- Chapter 2. -Gendering Prison Policy in Uruguay Since 2000.-When the Practice of Innovative Policy Stalls .- Chapter 3.- The Lessons of Misplaced Optimism.- Gender, Indigeneity, and Prison Reform in Canada.- Chapter 4.-At the Crossroads of top-down and bottom-up perspectives.-Prison policies, Rehabilitation Programs and Gender in Peru.- Chapter 5. -Penal Policy in Practice in Portugal.-Gender Blind Approaches Persist Alongside Limited Feminist Impact .-Chapter 6.- From Gender-mixed to Women’s only prisons in Denmark.-Diverse Practices in the Face of Challenging Realities.- Chapter 7.- Penality Reform in Zimbabwe: Gender Accommodation in a Male-centric Arena.- PART II.- IMMIGRATION DETENTION.- Chapter 8.- The Gendered “Slow Violence” of Alternatives to Detention in Canada.- Chapter 9. -Migration Control and Immigrant Detention in Poland Since 2015.-Gender Blind National Policy Practice?.- Chapter 10.- Unpacking the Gendered Politics of Immigration Detention in Spain.-Between Accommodation and Rowback.- Chapter 11. -Immigration Detention And Gender Equality Policy In Britain 2010-2024.- Coloniality Drives A Gender Blind Approach .- Chapter 12.- Comparative Analysis, Lessons Learned and Next Steps.