Question

In Cybercriminology. Gender Theories is one of the important theories.

cover a short history of the Gender Theories and an explanation of the Gender theories as it relates to criminology in cyberspace. Please also leave/post at least TWO QUESTIONS  for the audience at the end of the description

Answer 1

In western cultures, the relation between crime and gender were not topics of interest until late 60s and 70s. The field of criminology was also impacted by the women's movement which brought to the forefront the idea of considering women as potential subjects for research. (Heidensohn, 1968)

Gender theories have not been extensively researched in relation to cyber crimes as it is still a relatively new state of affairs. Especially as there have been few cyber crimes committed by women.

Cyber crimes are crimes committed using an online medium. Cyberstalking and cyber-harassment are two gender-based crimes that target women/girls more than men/boys. Females are disproportionately more likely to be victims of crimes than perpetrators. Conversely, very few cyber crimes are committed by women. The gender imbalance in cybercrime is much like the imbalance in non-cyber crimes as well. There are currently two explanations for this -

1. Access to formal computer knowledge/education : There have consistently been fewer female students in computer science courses leading to lack of adequate knowledge among women.(Cohoon, 2001). This is usually due to the perceived stereotype of computer science professions and the usual gender roles perpetuated in the world for women. (Beyer et al, 2003). Due to this fewer women have the knowledge necessary to get into cyber crimes

2. Access to informal eduction : This is an extension of the first as this education can come from various sources in the environment, primary of which is the virtual space.

Overall cybercrime is a male-dominated offence category and if women are involved then they are not the primary offender. The above reasons as well as the lack of female involvement in highly technical crimes combined to lower the rate of women committing cybercrimes.

(Hutchings, Chua, 2017)

Most if not all criminologists agree that this gender gap is universal i.e. across nationality and races. Cybercrime by itself is however rising quickly with more and more women being victimised in cyberspace. Whether it is cyber bullying or harassment, sexual offences against women seem to have taken on new form from the real world to the virtual world. This seems to be predominantly in regions where women have fewer options for protection or re-dressal. (Halder & Jaishankar, 2008, 2009, 2011b). It seems that various socio and psychological factors are triggering acts of violence towards women online. As rapid urbanisation changes the roles of women in the economy and society leading to more women joining the workforce, delaying marriages, having fewer children etc., males in the community are lashing out at females in an attempt to intimidate and scare them back into what is perceived as their social roles in an attempt to retain their 'higher' roles in the universal patriarchy.

(Saha, Srivastava, 2014)

Q1. Is this gender gap going to stay the same in the future with the increasing use of technology by both sexes?

Q2. Will that in turn change the targets of cyber crimes - as in will crimes against men rise and match the ones against women?

References :

Beyer, S., Rynes, K., Perrault, J., Hay, K., and Haller, S. (2003) Gender differences in computer science students. ACM SIGCSE Bulletin. 49-53

Cohoon, J. M. (2001) Toward improving female retention in computer science major, Communications of the ACM. 108-114

Halder, D., & Jaishankar, K. (2008). Cyber crimes against women in India: Problems, perspectives and solutions. TMC Academic Journal, 3(1), 48-62.

Halder, D., & Jaishankar, K. (2009). Cyber socializing and victimization of women. Temida, 12(3), 5-26

Heidensohn, Frances. 1968. The deviance of women: A critique and an enquiry. British Journal of Sociology 19.2: 160–175.

Hutchings, Alice., Chua, Yi Ting (2017) Gendering cybercrime. Cybercrime through an Interdisciplinary Lens. 167-188.

Saha, Tanaya., Srivastava, Akancha. (2014) Indian Women at Risk in the Cyber Space: A Conceptual Model of Reasons of Victimization. International journal of Cyber criminology. 8(1)