Looks at the dominance of men over women and the
impact it has on crimes by and against women. Since criminology has been dominated by male researchers, who have
concentrated on male crime, the issue of gender roles in
explaining crime and the reaction to crime have been
ignored. Feminists aim to eliminate this bias in criminological research. Meda Chesney-Lind and Kathleen Daly are
two of the major proponents of feminist theory; they
emphasize that the traditional structure of patriarchy, with
men dominating women, is as important as social class in
understanding crime. Male dominance is seen in criminal
justice systems as well as in criminological research, as men
discriminate against women in order to reinforce traditional
female gender roles.