Helen Codd

Age, Role Changes and Gender Power in Family Relationships: The Experiences of Older Female Partners of Male Prisoners

Abstract This article explores the effect of a prison sentence on an inmates female partner, with particular reference to the impact on ‘older’ women. Drawing on the findings of an empirical qualitative research study and the existing literature, this article considers the gender role changes prompted by imprisonment, and the strategies utilized by women in coping with consequent strain. The gendered nature of the impact of imprisonment is explored, and the article concludes by drawing on multidisciplinary feminist perspectives in criminology and family studies to assess the centrality of institutionalized ‘traditional’ expectations of appropriate womens behavior to womens experiences of, and responses to, male imprisonment.

'The Ties that Bind': Feminist Perspectives on Self-Help Groups for Prisoners' Partners

Recent research has recognised the role of self-help groups in helping women cope with the imprisonment of a male partner. However, little research has explored the benefits of membership, beyond the pragmatic recognition that the groups meet an unmet need for support and information. With reference to the findings of recent qualitative research conducted by the author in the UK, this article integrates interdisciplinary perspectives drawn from criminal justice research, family theory and gender studies to construct a gendered theoretical framework for understanding the significance and value of group membership, exploring gendered ideologies of caring and questioning the role of self-help groups in empowering women.

Older women, criminal justice, and women's studies

Abstract In 1985, Barbara Macdonald called for a rebuilding of womens studies so as to include all women, arguing that older women had previously been excluded. This article explores how, in this context, womens studies has taken up this challenge but has not taken account of the needs and experiences of older women who break the law and come into contact with the criminal justice system. This article uses older womens imprisonment in England and Wales, and an examination of media images of older female offenders, to illustrate the invisibility of older women offenders in womens studies. The article concludes by suggesting future strategies for rebuilding womens studies so as to include older women who offend and come into contact with the criminal justice system.

The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig

One of the unexpected joys of being the mother of a not-so-small child is the chance not only to re-read many loved children’s stories, but to discover, for the first time, children’s books that have emerged during the time lapse between our own childhood and parenthood. In this way, I discovered the inspirational and radical illustrated book, The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig. Written by a legal academic, the story turns the traditional fairy tale of the three little pigs and the big bad wolf on its head. In this version of the story, the three little wolves are the innocent victims of the Big Bad Pig. Every time the Big Bad Pig destroys their house, they build a stronger and ultimately more fortified residence, ending up with a house made of concrete, which is eventually destroyed yet again when the Big Bad Pig blows it up using dynamite.