Structural gender biases in the Spanish prison system: a feminist policy analysis

Speaker: Ana Ballesteros Pena, MSCA-UNA4CAREER Senior Research Fellow, Complutense University of Madrid

Abstract:

This presentation aims to understand what happens when gender equality policies cross prison walls. Combining methodological and conceptual tools from feminist criminology and feminist policy analysis, I will analyse the formulation and implementation of gender equality policies in Spain. The role of the feminist movement and gender experts, the impact of the ideas of street-level bureaucrats in implementation, the policy frames that emerge in the analysis of formulation and the impact of the intrinsically coercive nature of the system will be discussed. The presentation will draw on my long-term research on gender and prison policies in Spain, including some preliminary ideas from my current research project GEIPP: Gender equality and intersectionality policies in Spain: a multi-governed analysis.

This workshop is part of the Social Penalities Across Boundaries series which is organised by Professor Richard Sparks, University of Edinburgh, and Professor Máximo Sozzo, Universidad Nacional del Litoral in Argentina (UNL).