Women and Organized Crime in Latin America: Beyond Victims and Victimizers

COLOMBIA / 13 APR 2020

From cooks and coca harvesters to owners of their drug empires or trafficking and smuggling networks, women operate in a versatile manner, challenging traditional stereotypes about how they participate in criminal groups.

This investigation by InSight Crime and Universidad del Rosario’s Colombian Organized Crime Observatory reveals the complexity of female roles inside organized crime and questions the tendency to present women only as victims, or in some cases, as victimizers.

Chapter 1

Introduction to Gender and Organized Crime

COLOMBIA / 13 APR 2020

In Latin America, the participation of women in organized crime has been in the shadow of academic and public policy debate due to the male dominance in the different criminal…

Chapter 2

Roles of Women in Organized Crime

GENDER AND CRIME / 13 APR 2020

A look at the main roles of women in organized crime, including drug trafficking, human trafficking, and migrant smuggling.

Chapter 3

Female Criminal Leadership and Differing Use of Violence

COLOMBIA / 13 APR 2020

Women’s participation in organized crime groups is not uniform. The diverse roles that women play in criminal economies allow us to characterize different types of participation, forming a spectrum that…

Chapter 4

Conclusions and Recommendations

GENDER AND CRIME / 13 APR 2020

As has been reiterated throughout this report, the participation of women in organized criminal economies is becoming ever more relevant and is accelerating. Studies of this phenomenon, which have been…

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