Female Gang Members Research Paper

Although it has been well known that males tend to make up the majority of gang members, an increasing number of female gangs have been showing up; Saskatchewan, British Columbia and Manitoba are just a few of the provinces where female gangs are popping up (Statistics Canada, 2008). Often the study of the female youth gang rate is neglected within research and the correlation between the gangs and social economic facts are forgot about (As cited in Jacob, 2006). Gangs and Girls: Understanding Juvenile Prostitution by Michel Dorais and Patrice Corriveau discusses how “gangs often use girls as accomplices

Even so, early on in my reading on this ethnography, I identified the role gender plays not only for the ethnographer doing the research, but also for the gang members. As the gang members matured into adulthood the similarities in these gender roles that match most societies became apparent,

Both the Latin Kings and Mara Salvatrucha allow girls into their gangs and recruit young boys and men by jumping in. They require their members to follow a strict code of conduct and have a hierarchy chain of command. Their members are recruited when they are young so growing up their lives are centered to the gang(Jennifer and Jesenia 2009)

Many years of research have gone into studying why youth turns to gang involvement. A sector of this population has only recently been a focus of any study at all and that is the female. From the authors De La Rue, Espelage research they estimate that female gang membership is anywhere from 10 to 35% of the total gang population (De La Rue, Espelage 2014 pg. 1). There are many pieces that drive females to join the gang lifestyle. There are three major causes that drive females to gang involvement; family influences, relationship drives, and prior victimization.

Joining a gang typically involves one associating with gang members, being accepted and trusted by other gang members and eventually being admitted into the gang. There have been cases of adolescent who have hung out with gang members for over a year before making a commitment to join the gang. Initiation into the gang can occur by being “beaten in/ jumped in” where other gang members beat an individual for a certain period of time. Another option, which is prominent with female gang members, is being “sexed in” where a roll of the dice determines how many male gang members the female will have to sleep with in order to be part of the gang. Some female gang members prefer to be “jumped in” as they feel they get more “respect” from the other

Many people recognize that gangs have been around for what seems like forever. What they don't realize is that the numbers are increasing to amazing proportions, there were 28,000 youth gangs with 780,200 members in the United States (in 2000) and 20% to 46% of those members are female (Evans). And what is even more shocking is, in Chicago alone there are 16,000 to 20,000 female gang members (Eghigian). These girls start out as ?groupies?, become members, and sometimes even leaders of all-girl gangs because of troubles in the home, a need for money, for the social scene, or just because it is all they know.

She normally does not develop an emotional relationship with any of the boys, yet among the four female types, she is most actively involved in everyday gang activities. Good girls include childhood friends of many of the male gang members, often having attended the same schools, and having parents who interact with each other. In time, these relationships came to be based on mutual respect. Males characterize these females as “nice girls.” Compared with the other types of female gang associates, very infrequent involvement in criminal activities, and also limited involvement in everyday gang activities.

The term “female gang members” refers both to individuals who are members of female gangs and to those who are members of gender-integrated gangs.

I chose this article because it examines young females who are involved within the juvenile justice system who also, happen to have boyfriends who are known gang members. I feel this is important because, the types of at risk behaviors, and mental status can be compared to girls who are involved in gangs as well. The article states that, these types of girls should have the same type of intervention initiatives that also are known to target young girls and boys who are involved with gangs. It was also found that girls who have boyfriends in a gang tend to experience more physical violence, depression and

There are many ways to get into a gang, but there are many reasons why people join, and what benefits they yield from joining a gang. Many members of gangs will see benefits to a gang, but those benefits are only received if one were to pledge to the steep risks that come with being in a gang. Benefits can range from gender, but they are usually the same, but there are different roles played based on one's gender an example would be females in gangs, “roles of women include: holding and transporting drugs, and guns as law enforcement as less likely to search women”(pg. 42, Eghigian, Petrenko). Women in gangs may have small roles, but still “important” ones that are equally as dangerous as a mans. This is because the “rewards” are similar for,

In addition, I believe females are competing for a chance in the spotlight. They crave the attention and power male gang members receive.

Gang involvement and its associated violent crime have become a rapidly growing problem for the United States. Generally, gangs consist of young people of the same ethnic, racial, and economic background. Usually of a low socio-economic status, these gangs engage in illegal money making activities and intimidate their neighborhoods and rival gangs with violent crimes and victimization. Gang members exemplify a high value for group loyalty and sacrifice.

Society has marginalized women into gender related roles that made it almost impossible for them to succeed. Women in society are taught to become puppets to a male master. Women in society were supposed to follow the orders of their male counterparts. Some of the women who felt that they are been marginalized by society create or join subcultural groups known as gangs. The question remains: are female gang members used as disposable accessories in gangs or are they forming their own gang to liberate themselves from gender related roles set by society? Girls in male gangs are viewed as disposable accessories, but they have changed the nature of a gang by creating all female gangs eliminating the male dominant figure. I believe that female

Gangs are becoming prevalent in today’s society and within our schools. More and more young people are turning to gangs in an attempt to escape their everyday lives and the future, which they perceive as dismal and bleak. They are initially attracted to the prestige and cash flow, which is glamorized by the street gang. Many gangs are actively involved in criminal misconduct, such as drug and gun trafficking, burglaries and homicides. However, street gangs are not just a criminal justice issue, but a social problem, which is triggered by poverty, peer pressure, boredom, despair and lacking a sense of belonging.

In the past, there were only a few studies about female gangs as the number of female gangs was not significant.However, a survey researching on the membership structure and the distribution of the local gangs states that there were only 6% of the gangsters were female in 2001 but according to two Youth Outreaching Teams of federation four years later, the number of female gang members has been doubled to around 15%. This growth worths paying attendtions to because this lead to a social problem involves of interaction between both external factors which includes family, school and the society and internal factors which contains self esteem and sex role.