Gender and Crime: Convenience for Pink-Collar Offenders

Abstract

Traditionally, research on the gender fraction of women in white-collar crime has focused on female lack of financial motive, organizational opportunity, and personal willingness for deviant behavior. This article applies the opposite perspective of traditional gender research on white-collar crime in terms of special female motive, opportunity, and willingness. This article challenges prior research regarding female involvement in white-collar crime. Based on the theory of convenience, this article identifies convenience themes that are gender-specific in favor of pink-collar offenders. In the motive dimension of convenience theory, we find concern for others and strain causing depression and anxiety. In the opportunity dimension, we find that women have the advantage of facing suspicion of misconduct, wrongdoing, and crime to a far lesser extent compared to men. In the willingness dimension, we find that women as followers can justify their actions and neutralize their potential guilt feelings far better than men in the role of leaders in crime can neutralize what they have done.