Staying with the Social Project: A Review of Feminist Criminology
| Author | Katharine Dunbar Winsor |
| Published date | 01 June 2021 |
| Date | 01 June 2021 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0964663920941156 |
| Subject Matter | Review of the Field |
Review of the Field
Review of the Field
In this issue, Social & Legal Studies is pleased to publish the third of an occasional
feature: Review of the Field. Our ambition in this series is to publish articles which
reflect upon fields of study and which offer a critical appraisal of the key literature and
concepts. The aim is to provide not only a valuable map of the scholarly terrain but,
equally, we hope that the format will give authors the opportunity to set a direction of
travel for their discipline. Thus, we anticipate that reviews will ask new research ques-
tions, identify gaps in the scholarship and explore connections and discontinuities
between diverse bodies of knowledge. Suggestions for future reviews are welcome and
should be addressed to members of the Editorial Board. We are pleased to publish this
Review of Feminist Criminology by Katharine Dunbar Winsor of Concordia University.
We hope that our readers agree with us that the article provides an important addition to
the literature and provides an invaluable template for contributors of future reviews.
Editorial Board
Social & Legal Studies
Review Article
Staying With the Social
Project: A Review of
Feminist Criminology
Katharine Dunbar Winsor
Concordia University, Canada
Abstract
The emergence of the feminist movement in the 1960s and 1970s became a primary
influence of the field of feminist criminology. Feminist criminology has evolved over the
past several decades and has remained impacted by and in dialogue with feminist thought
and perspectives. Within the field, researchers have focused on producing and circulating
women-centred knowledge. Despite this, tensions within the field highlight diverging
approaches to what and who is studied. In Canada, the maturation of feminist crimin-
ology as a field has coincided with significant changes to women’s penology. In this essay,
the development and changes to feminist criminology are mapped through an exam-
ination of key events and changes in Canada’s penal strategies for women. What emerges
is the argument that feminist criminology must understand itself beyond narrow and
discrete terms and instead must work with the tensions and debates of the field to keep
women’s voices centred and the feminist social project alive.
Keywords
Feminism, feminist criminology, feminist social project, incarceration spiral, women’s
penology
Introduction
Feminist criminology emerged more than three decades ago as a feminism-informed
field and approach to criminological work. The field has expanded and matured as it
focuses on women’s experiences, structural and systemic barriers encountered by
Corresponding author:
Katharine Dunbar Winsor, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.
Email: katharine.dunbarwinsor@mail.concordia.ca
Social & Legal Studies
2021, Vol. 30(3) 470–488
ªThe Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/0964663920941156
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