“The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off!”
Every year, I tell myself I won’t write an article for the 16 Days of Activism for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, a UN Women campaign that runs annually from November 25th to December 10th.
The reason is that it pisses me off that in the 21st century, we still have to make a case for why erradicating gender violence should be a planetary priority. Moreover, every year is a reminder that not only are we not solving the problem, but we keep inventing different ways to inflict gender violence on women (artificial intelligence, anyone?).
Still, despite all that — and often at the last minute — I change my mind. Why?
Because, unfortunately, I keep surprising myself by yet another way in which women endure gender violence and I feel compelled to (𝗌̶𝖼̶𝗋̶𝖾̶𝖺̶𝗆̶) talk about it.
This year was no different.
This was the original plan: The theme for the 2025 Elimination of Violence Against Women campaign is “digital violence”. And I’ve written many times about it:
- I denounced when Alexa and Siri used to reply to verbal sexual harassment with a flirt or even thank the comment.
- I demonstrated the different ways AI is weaponised as a misogyny tool.
- I shared how deepfake porn wrecks women’s lives, the ecosystem that profits from them, and what you can do about non-consensual synthetic imagery.
So, earlier this year, I decided that when the UN campaign started, I’d repost some of my already published content.
Then, some recent reading compelled me to dig into the intersection between gender violence and the experiences of criminalised women, female prisoners, and women killers.
The common thread among the three groups — and what makes their experience of gender violence less visible in the news — is that they are women who, in our minds, don’t conform to the stereotype of well-behaved, self-sacrificing females. They are “bad” women.
I’m here to tell you how those women are also victims of gender violence.
And no, they don’t deserve it either.
(SCOOP: And Tech makes it even worse).
Criminalised Women
“Poverty is not gender-neutral, and women are overrepresented amongst the poor, resulting in the criminalisation of poverty having an excessive impact on women.”
Traditionally, women have been a minority of the prison populations — women and girls make up 6.9% of the global prison population. However, since 2000, there has been much faster growth in female than in male prisoner numbers. The percentage of women and girls in prison has grown by almost 60%, whilst the male prison population increased by around 22%.
The excellent report From poverty to punishment: Examining laws and practices which criminalise women due to poverty or status worldwide provides a detailed understanding of the causes behind the criminalisation and imprisonment of women:
- Laws and policies criminalise women for life-sustaining activitiesand acts of survival: Women are overrepresented among the poor and those criminalised for actions to sustain themselves and their families.
- Petty theft: For example, in England and Wales, shoplifting accounted for 40% of women’s prison sentences of less than six months compared to just 22% of men’s in 2023.
- Begging: Countries such as Denmark, Ireland, Serbia, and Thailand have laws against it. In Uzbekistan, out of the 5,000 people punished for begging under a 2018 law, 4,000 were women.
- The informal economy: Women are overrepresented in this sector, which is criminalised in many countries.
- Debt or non-payment of fines: In Egypt, 20–25% of women in prison are so-called indebted women, punishable with a sentence from 3 to 16 years in prison. In England and Wales, around a third of prosecutions of women in 2019 were for non-payment of a TV licence.
- Vagrancy, loitering, and idleness: These often-vague laws are frequently used against women transgressing gender norms. For example, in South Africa, they are used to fining sex workers and, in some West African countries, women are frequently arrested for simply being outside at night.
- Homelessness: Homelessness is criminalised through a range of laws that prohibit squatting and activities such as camping, sleeping, or erecting shelter. There is an established link between gender-based violence, homelessness, and criminalisation. Violence drives women out of their homes, and once homeless, they face higher rates of sexual assault, harassment, and humiliation than men.
2. Harsh drug laws are driving the increase in women’s imprisonment:
“Policies implemented under the so-called ‘War on Drugs’, coupled with patriarchal assumptions around gender roles, increase women’s likelihood of being subjected to criminal proceedings, pretrial detention, and longer prison sentences compared to men.”
Moreover, many countries criminalise women who consume drugs. For example, the US states are increasingly adopting legislation to address substance use among pregnant and postpartum individuals.
3. Women are criminalised for acts or behaviours relating to ‘honour’ or ‘morality’ or cultural beliefs.
- Adultery and extramarital sex: Women in Pakistan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Morocco are criminalised for consensual sexual intercourse outside of marriage, such as adultery or extramarital sex.
- Dress code: The so-called ‘burqa bans’ in Europe have criminalised women in the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Bulgaria, Belgium, and France.
- Mobility: Laws and regulations in countries like Afghanistan restrict women’s travel and mobility.
- Sorcery: It is punishable in several countries. Women outside the gender stereotypes — widows, childless women — are more vulnerable to accusations of witchcraft.
4. Women are criminalised due to their sexuality, gender identity, reproductive or mental health status
Around the world, women are criminalised for sex work, abortion, and consensual same-sex sexual activity (about 40 countries specifically criminalise consensual sexual conduct between women).
Suicide and attempted suicide are criminalised in 25 countries, and whilst suicide is often seen as a “male” issue, research has shown a strong correlation between gender-based violence and suicidality in women.
Additionally, there is also the criminalisation of women survivors of coercive control. A report from the Centre for Women’s Justice (CWJ) showed how women in England have been criminalised because of their abusive partners; that is, victims of coercive control who are pressured into offending.
The list above is a testament to how women are targeted for acts of survival while being poor, for being female, or for challenging patriarchal norms.
Women Prisoners
One of the things Alissa Moore remembers clearly from her time in prison is how the guards taunted her when she asked for a tampon. Sometimes they’d outright refuse. Other times they’d ask her to come to a closet or a back room, where she said, on several occasions, she was sexually assaulted.
In 2011, the UN approved the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules) to address the issue of women in prison with a view to identifying the key problems and how they can be addressed.
The context of the document was
- Women prisoners are one of the vulnerable groups that have specific needs and requirements.
- Many existing prison facilities worldwide were designed primarily for male prisoners, whereas the number of female prisoners has significantly increased over the years.
The rules provide guidance regarding topics such as personal hygiene
the accommodation of women prisoners shall have facilities and materials required to meet women’s specific hygiene needs, including sanitary towels provided free of charge
disciplining
Punishment by close confinement or disciplinary segregation shall not be applied to pregnant women, women with infants and breastfeeding mothers in prison
restraints
Instruments of restraint shall never be used on women during labour, during birth and immediately after birth.
or that courts should have the power to consider factors such as a lived experience of violence.
When sentencing women offenders, courts shall have the power to consider mitigating factors such as lack of criminal history and relative non-severity and nature of the criminal conduct, in the light of women’s caretaking responsibilities and typical backgrounds.
Unfortunately, prison is rarely a place where women get to get respect, find support, and get the skills to rebuild their lives.
For starters, let’s take a look at the female prison population. In the UK,
- In 2022, three-quarters of women surveyed in prison (76%) reported that they had mental health issues.
- In 2025, two-thirds of women prisoners in the UK reported being victims of domestic abuse. Over half have experienced emotional, physical or sexual abuse during childhood.
- Black, Asian and ‘minority ethnic’ women are more likely to receive a custodial sentence in the Crown Court than white women.
- Most women entering prison to serve a sentence (69%) have committed a non-violent offence.
Then, let’s have a peek into their lived experience in prison. Again in the UK,
- Overcrowding within women’s prisons is most significant within local prisons, where there is a 9.6% average overcrowding rate, going up to a maximum of 20%.
- Women are much more likely than men to self-harm whilst in prison. In England and Wales, women made up 27% of all self-harm incidents despite making up only 4% of the prison population in 2023.
- Women in prison have described how the cell conditions are unfit for living in. For example, some have been forced to eat their meals in the same cell where they would also use the toilet.
- Women in prison have a seven-times higher probability of suffering a stillbirth than those in the general population and 25% of babies born to women in prison were admitted to a neonatal unit afterwards — almost double the national figure of 14%.
Let’s cross the ocean. The United States has the highest female incarceration rate in the world. An analysis of prison rules and sanctions across all fifty states and the federal system reveals that
- Incarcerated women are routinely denied the basic dignity of having the sanitary products and practices they need to care for themselves.
- Prisons punish people with periods in several ways, including restricting access to necessary products through policy or price at the commissary. Their experience depends heavily on the state.
- When female prisoners band together and try to cope by engaging in survival strategies such as sharing supplies, they often fall prey to prison disciplinary systems.
- Reports from carceral facilities across the country highlight how incarcerated people are subjected to assault, withholding of supplies, and humiliation while menstruating.
Sadly, not even when pregnant are you expected to get some respite from violence. You may be surprised — as I was — that Wikipedia has a page dedicated to the use of restraints on pregnant women.
In the article, we learn that “the use of shackles or restraints on pregnant women is a common practice in prisons and jails in the United States, but also documented in countries including Australia, the UK, and Japan.” even though
- The shackling of pregnant women is a harmful, painful, and demeaning practice that is rarely necessary to preserve safety and increases the substantial medical risks of childbirth.
- Most female prisoners are non-violent offenders, and women who are pregnant, in labour, or in postpartum recovery are especially low flight and safety risks.
Still, even in places like Minnesota (US), where there are anti-shackling bills, there have been reports of women shackled or handcuffed during active labour.
Then, there is sexual harassment, coercion, and violence in female prisons.
A UN report on contemporary forms of slavery affecting incarcerated people, published in 2024, doesn’t mince words:
The Special Rapporteur is alarmed by instances of sexual exploitation and abuse within correctional and other detention facilities globally.
In the United States, for instance, it has been reported that sexual abuse against incarcerated women occurred in at least two-thirds of federal prisons between 2012 and 2022.
Sexual violence [on women] in detention settings is also said to be serious in Canada, and there are reports of [women] incarcerated or arbitrarily detained individuals in Burundi, Ethiopia, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Libya, Myanmar, the Philippines and Trinidad and Tobago being subjected to rape and other severe forms of sexual abuse.
And who are the perpetrators?
- Employees of correctional facilities may seek sexual favours from incarcerated women in exchange for better job assignments and other benefits, threatening to retaliate if the person refuses or reports the incident (coercion).
- There are also instances of inter-prisoner sexual violence, abuse and exploitation.
The report also mentions that sexual abuse and exploitation within correctional facilities remain underreported or underinvestigated due to fears of retaliation and revictimization, thereby promoting a culture of impunity.
Finally, if that was not enough, once women leave prison, many are forced to choose between situations where they will face violence or sleeping rough. In Uruguay and other countries, the lack of support for women leaving prison has contributed to rising homelessness among formerly imprisoned women. As mentioned above, homelessness is often criminalised, making women more likely to be sent to jail again.
Women Killers
“Experience of domestic violence is at the heart of why many women are driven to commit violent crimes”
Across cultures, data suggest that women are only responsible for 5 to 18% of homicides worldwide. That’s a small fraction. However, the context and motivation are very different from those of men.
Homicides committed by men primarily target friends or acquaintances, followed by those involving strangers. When women have been convicted of murder or manslaughter, often the victim is a male partner or male family member and there is a history of domestic violence or sexual abuse.
Unfortunately, there is a broad difference among countries in embedding the Bangkok Rules mentioned earlier into their legal systems regarding the consideration of a history of abuse as a defence in its own right. The landscape is even more disparate in practice, as judges and juries have considerable flexibility.
For example, data and research published in 2023 on the main crimes committed by women on death row point to murder in relation to gender-based violence as one of the primary causes.
Researchers and human rights lawyers confirm this trend in cases of women on death row for murder in the US, Malawi, Tanzania, and Iran, which they’ve worked on or researched. Consistently, there is a history of abuse and even forced or child marriage behind them.
Tech Won’t Save Us
Organisations and individuals around the world are weaponising AI as a misogyny tool.
Digital technology is rarely an ally for women. On the contrary, it’s often used to criminalise them.
The Gender Shades study showed that face recognition algorithms used to predict race and gender were biased against darker females, which showed up to a 35% error compared to 1% for lighter-skinned males.
As a result, women with darker skin around the world have been falsely arrested upon failed face recognition. Porcha Woodruff, a Black woman, was eight months pregnant when police in Detroit (US) arrested her on charges of carjacking and robbery. It was a victim of facial recognition misidentification. And in New Zealand, a supermarket trialling facial recognition technology mistakenly identified a Māori woman as a thief. She was evicted from the supermarket despite offering three forms of photo identification to staff.
Unfortunately, it’s not only about women’s faces, but also about how we dress, too. In 2023, Iran announced the use of facial recognition algorithms to identify women breaking hijab laws.
And even wearables conspire against women prisoners.
Recently, a 78-year-old female climate protester spent 41 days in a UK prison when no tag devices small enough to fit her wrists were available, after being released under Home Office detention curfew.
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What’s Next?
Most people incarcerated in prisons designated for women have experience sexual violence prior to their incarceration, and their incarceration makes them more vulnerable to re-victimization and retraumatization.
Gender violence may be present at all stages of women’s experiences, and that includes imprisonment. More specifically, it can result in women being arrested and jailed, and it can be perpetrated during their incarceration.
Upending the current situation demands systemic change. From reviewing and addressing the myriad ways in which women are criminalised for being poor or simply female, to increasing the understanding of violence against women across different criminal justice agencies and tackling misogyny and victim-blaming.
More radically, even, we could dare to think that women’s prisons have served their time and look for alternatives. Women in Prison has published a report about the immense value of women’s centres across England and Wales. They are often known as being “one-stop” shops and usually offer access to specialist advocacy, advice and support on housing, debt, harmful substance use, mental and physical health, training, employment and education, domestic abuse and family and parenting issues.
Many Women’s Centres provide services to facilitate diversion at the point of arrest and provide advocacy for women in the community, in prison, “through the gate”, and after release. They do this in a variety of ways, including floating support, outreach and resettlement support, drop-in services, and group work.
“The value of Women’s Centres is priceless. You can’t put a price on someone’s soul, their self-esteem and belief of themselves. You tend to think you are a bad person because these things have happened to you, and you end up in prison. But you can’t put a price on people giving that back to you.”
As we look to eliminate violence against women worldwide and forever, we mustn’t leave behind those who don’t fit the stereotype of “good girls”.
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