Globally there has been a rise in the population of incarcerated women over recent decades. Yet, despite this increase, female offenders only represent about 5% of the total incarcerated population. South Africa is no different – female offenders on average total less than 3% of the incarcerated population in South Africa, one of the ten largest correctional systems in the world. This small representation of women in the correctional system often leads to the interpretation that their pathways to offending and experiences of incarceration are the same as those of male offenders, delegitimising any role that gender may play in offending behaviour. The research topic of this doctoral study aims to investigate whether these women’s symbolic or pragmatic status as mothers motivated their crimes and how this occurrence may argue that the socioeconomic challenges faced by these women play a role in their criminalisation. By utilising a feminist pathways research approach, the unlawful actions of seventeen women incarcerated in the Johannesburg Female Correctional Centre is contextualised and reveals conduits to women’s incarceration that primarily involve victimisation and socially constructed “gendered vulnerabilities” that are indissolubly interconnected with poverty and oppression. As seen through their life history narratives, this confluence of factors, coupled with fulfilling the dual roles of provider and caregiver as a mother, contribute to their pathway to offending. Ultimately the research allows for a gender-sensitive analysis of the unique challenges incarcerated women in South Africa face, and the role agency and patriarchy has played in their pathways taken.

Key themes: Department of Corrections, South Africa, female offender, feminist criminology, lived experiences, pathways to crime, life history interviews, psychology, gender, narrative