Opportunity Theory and Women’s Liberation
Views the increase in female criminality as the result of greater opportunities for women in the workforce.(toward that previously characterized primarily as male crime) changed when women began participating more extensively in the workforce. that female crime rates increased only in
certain property crimes, and that the increase is explained
by opportunity theory—women had more chances to
engage in crimes such as larceny-theft, fraud, and embezzlement. Darrell J. Steffensmeier argued that the increase
in female criminality began before the women’s liberation
movement and that women have been engaged primarily
in traditional female crimes or, when engaging in traditional
male crimes (such as murder), have assumed traditional
female gender roles.