Glenda Simms, Contributor
IN A recent news report in the local media, the Jamaican society was informed that "cops say more women are committing murders, armed robbery and other gun-related charges". According to the report, some of the senior police officers who are observing this trend of more and more women being involved in serious criminal activities are not quite sure why women are on this track.
The obvious consternation of these police officers is linked to the global reality that women universally have never committed crimes at the rate of their male counterparts. In Jamaica, this reality is underlined by the fact that we have only one prison for women and the crime profile of women is dramatically different than that of men.
Pawns in a dangerous game
The same situation obtained in Canada while I lived there. At that time, the famous women's prison was P4W (The Prison for Women), which was located in Kingston, Ontario. While I served in the capacity of president of the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women, the prison authorities invited me to visit the incarcerated women and, in particular, they requested that I help them to understand the needs of a growing sector of their prison population - the Jamaican women who were charged and imprisoned for cross-border drug trafficking. This new crop of 'drug mules' was certainly not in charge of the drug trade. They were mere pawns in a dangerous game. They ended up in P4W and the masterminds of the drug trade in Jamaica and in New York remained untouched by the justice system.
Scared and miserable
The Jamaican women who met me in the meeting room of P4W in the mid-90s were not hardened criminals. They were scared and miserable. A few of them confessed to me that their families had no idea that they were not in Jamaica. One young Jamaican woman who resided in New York tearfully described to me that she had left her baby girl with a friend one morning and planned to return to pick her up later in the evening of the fateful day. Unfortunately, she was picked up at the Pearson International Airport, charged and ended up in the female prison in the rather distant corner of Ontario, Canada.
I remember vividly the tears of another young Jamaican woman who had no idea of what explanation she would give her parents who waved her goodbye at the Norman Manley International Airport on her way to "visit cousins in Toronto". She was concerned that she would have to return to Jamaica after serving her sentence and be deported in the same frock that she left in. She wouldn't even have the ability to purchase tubes of toothpaste and bars of Irish Spring soap to give as gifts to her buddies.
These encounters with women who get involved in criminal activities need to be analysed within the framework of the disempowerment of the female of the species. It is tempting to use the presence of a few women in criminal gangs as the basis of the idea that women are equal to men in the arena of violence and criminality.
Socialised for peace
While it is true that individual and groups of women have always demonstrated that they can be quite evil, the majority of women in all societies have been socialised to be on the side of peace rather than on the warpath.
In this discussion, a glimpse into the exploits of famous female criminals might challenge us to be more introspective as we attempt to understand what is really happening to some young women in the inner cities of the Jamaican society.
In 1984, writer Margaret Nicholas published The World's Wickedest Women and brought to public debate the potential of women to be as wicked as men have been historically and contemporarily. Nicholas' categories of wicked women included thieves and outlaws. It is this category in which we must try to locate the women who are now making their own mark on the notorious landscape of criminality in the Jamaican society.
Perhaps media houses thrive on sexy headlines and on nine-day story wonders, but it is important for journalists and social commentators to go beyond the catchy phrases and bring a deeper understanding to the many ways in which patriarchal values have distorted and destroyed many of the positive underpinnings of human society.
It is within such a conceptual framework that we will come to appreciate these contemporary 'donettes' who are participating in gunslinging activities for the same reasons that historical female gunslingers made the decision to leave their mark on the landscape of patriarchal power brokering. Criminal women learn very early that they can experience a type of power and self-worth through the same avenues that are used by many men in their communities. This mindset is clearly demonstrated in Nicholas' chapter on 'thieves and outlaws'.
Early beginning
One such example can be found in the life and exploits of Mary Frith who lived in 17th-century London. She is described as "a huge woman with the air of a pirate, dressed like a man and smoking like a chimney". When she strode the streets of her section of London with her fierce dog "panting at her heels", everyone (men, women and children) had to "step into the gutter to let her pass".
According to Nicholas' research, Mary Frith was from a stable, honest family with doting parents who planned to give her a good education and prepare her to find a suitable husband. But Mary Frith had other ideas. She hated sewing and stitching and found the company of girls unattractive and boring. Her distraught and embarrassed parents tried to get rid of her by sending her to other lands on a merchant ship but Mary jumped overboard and returned to shore where she joined gangs of pickpockets and thieves who terrorised the markets and fairs which were important economic activities of the villages and rural towns.
Mary Firth learnt that being too 'girlie girlie' did not provide independence and money. She, therefore, decided to be like the men by throwing off her petticoats for good and donning masculine attire. History records the extraordinary criminal exploits and wealth creation of this woman who was widely known as Moll Cutpurse.
Other women with matching reputation recorded by Nicholas were Belle Starr who was born into a 'proper family' in Missouri in 1848. She is reputed to have had no respect for the law and her heroes "were all thieves and outlaws who didn't give a damn and got away with murder". In the same vein, the legendary exploits of Bonnie and Clyde have inspired the creative imagination of many film-makers, and have become a permanent feature of American folklore.
Deadly partnership
Bonnie Parker, as described by Nicholas, was born to a "family of devout Texan Baptists", became hitched to Clyde Barrow, a seasoned criminal who had a passion for guns. They forged a deadly partnership and committed many murders and robberies. Their notorious lives were ended when they were ambushed and killed by a Texas ranger and his lawmen in 1934.
These snippets of the lives of women whose criminality distinguished them from the vast majority of women in their societies demonstrate that women are quite capable of doing whatever men have done.
Feminists have always maintained that women must be empowered to make the choices that free them from their marginalised status. It is in this empowerment that women will realise that they need not become like the men who used violence to broker all relationships as they extended their influence in all parts of the globe.
However, in spite of the idealism of the feminist agenda, the reality is that far too many women and girls are forced to live in environments where violence and extreme forms of criminality have become badges of honour. It is, therefore, not surprising that some of our young women and girls in our most depressed urban centres have chosen to experience power and control through the use of the gun.
Victims of powerlessness
These contemporary Jamaican female criminals know that women are the victims of their powerlessness. They have seen mothers crying for their sons, daughters and lovers who were viciously slain by the gunman. They know that when the "don" demands the little girls, men and women in their communities have no choice but to collude in a cycle of rapes, carnal abuse and murders. Like all human beings, they want to have the power to preserve themselves and their sons and daughters. They have now become the dons in braids, blonde wigs, false fingernails and battle fatigue.
Their numbers will grow as long as they continue to cope with neglect, eroded infrastructure, greed and corruption at all levels of the society and the continuing devaluation of womanhood. They will choose to rob and kill rather than release the inner strength of the female of the species.
It is a damn pity!
Glenda Simms is a gender expert and consultant.<./i>
