The Role Of Women In The Illicit Drug Trade
Although statistics show that men are more heavily involved in the illicit drug trade (Fleetwood, 2015), recent data has shown that women are becomingly increasingly involved in the distribution of drugs (Bailey, 2013) (Van San & Sikkens, 2017). Indeed, throughout the world, this is evident through the fact that drug crimes account for a large percentage of women incarcerated for major crimes (Bailey, 2013). However, despite this growing involvement in the industry, many scholars still argue that women’s involvement in this industry is solely driven by poverty, and only results in victimisation for the women involved.
Although these factors undoubtedly play into the experiences of women in this industry, this essay will convey the plethora of reasons women are driven to become engaged in the illicit drug economy, and the variety of ways in which this involvement can influence their lives, including the empowerment some women achieve. There is a large portion of women who become involved in the illicit drug trade in order to escape poverty.
A study done by Corin Bailey in 2013 into the motivations for female drug smuggling in the Barbados found that women studied were more likely to find their income through the informal economy, as Caribbean women experience “unequal access to resources both in the home and in the wider society” and have “higher rates of unemployment than males as well as greater difficulties in entering the labour force” (Bailey, 2013).
Another study of women in the Santa Monica prison in Peru found that the women interviewed had mostly been working in the informal economy as street vendors or cleaners before becoming engaged in moving drugs (Campos,2015). These women were also vulnerable as they had low levels of education, with most only having completed primary school, thus further limiting their employment options (Bailey, 2013). In addition, the majority of women observed in both studies were single mothers who had the financial responsibility of caring for their children (Bailey, 2013) (Campos, 2015).
Indeed, Campos asserted that “economic survival in the face of the loss of her husband’s financial contribution” was a primary driver for women to become involved in the drug business. (Campos, 2015). This precarious financial situation has led women to pursue connections in the illicit drug trade as they feel it is necessary in order to provide for their families (Bailey, 2013) (Mahtani, 2013) (Van San & Sikkens, 2017). It also renders women vulnerable to manipulation to others in the drug trade, who use women to fulfill low-level, especially as drug mules, where they are highly vulnerable to detection and arrest (Campos, 2015).
The relative economic freedom women gain from involvement in the drug industry can also create an opportunity for women to remove themselves from abusive relationships (Bailey, 2013). This is because the money from illicit activities can provide the means for women to live independently without a male partner, which may not have been possible in previous occupations (Bailey, 2013) (Campbell, 2008).
Another avenue through which women become involved in the drug trade is through their social relations, particularly romantic partners. In a general sense, organized crime usually operates within already established social relationships, the rationale to which being that it is better to engage in potentially risky activities with people you already know and trust (Van San & Sikkens, 2017). It is thus unsurprising that women often become involved in the illicit drug economy through their spouses or romantic partners (Van San & Sikkens, 2017). Some women became involved in the drug trade due to their romantic partner having an involvement in the trade. For some, this was simply a way for them to take advantage of their partner’s connections and earn money, while others were manipulated by the men in their lives to become involved (Bailey, 2013) (Van San & Sikkens, 2017).
Indeed, some incarcerated male traffickers have admitted to forming romantic relationships with financially vulnerable women, as they know they can manipulate them into doing the dirty work of the drug trade because of their emotional attachment and economic state (Van San & Sikkens, 2017). However, there were also cases of women were unwillingly implicated in the drug trade through coercion or deception at the hands of their romantic partners (Bailey, 2013). For example, many incarcerated female drug offenders have explained that they were tricked into moving drugs with partners asking them to bring gifts to relatives when they travelled, which were in reality packages of drugs.
Another example frequently described was these women’s romantic partners buying or lending the woman a suitcase, in which drugs were concealed (Bailey, 2013) (Campos, 2015). Others knew that they were moving drugs but only did so as they were threatened with violence against them or their family members if they did not (Bailey, 2013). In these situations, the women were often relatively financially stable and had “envisioned legitimate paths towards success for themselves” (Bailey, 2013). These examples show that there is indeed a degree of victimisation that women face through their involvement in the illicit drug economy.
While female involvement in illegal industries such as the drug trade is usually believed to be motivated by necessity or vulnerability, there is also evidence to suggest that women are motivated by greed, power, and thrill-seeking as much as men (Bailey, 2013) (Van San & Sikkens, 2017). Many women who enter the drug trade, particularly at a higher level, are not concerned with survival or supporting their family, but of living a luxurious and fashionable lifestyle that they believe drug money can give them (Campbell, 2008). For many women, it was also a means of exerting agency in their lives, and of achieving the “type of street capital traditionally assumed to be limited to make crime” (Bailey, 2013).
Various scholars who have interacted with, and interviewed women in the industry have found that these women become addicted to the power they acquired through their criminal pursuits (Bailey, 2013) (Van San & Sikkens, 2017). One woman explained that although she came from a well-off family and had other avenues for success, drug smuggling was an “adventure” and provided her with a means to “get away from the misery [she] was living in” (Van San & Sikkens, 2017). These cases demonstrate that the assumption that women are always victims in drug crimes is fundamentally wrong.
The plethora of factors which motivate women to become involved in the drug trade are equally reflected in the roles women play in this industry, and in turn how this affects their lives. As Howard Campbell observed in his studies into female smugglers on the U.S.-Mexico border, “the growing feminization of drug smuggling has complex and contradictory impacts on women’s lives” (Campbell, 2008). Most women who become a part of the illicit drug trade occupy lower status roles in drug industries (Anderson, 2005).
Women are often employed as drug mules, engaging in various dangerous practices such as swallowing pellets of drugs and sewing drugs into clothing and suitcases and delivering these drugs (Bailey, 2013). The places where women are employed to deliver drugs various from local neighbourhoods to prisons and even across borders to different countries (Campos, 2015). Although these women are lured in by the desire to earn large amounts of money, this is usually fantasy as women receive very little of the huge profits which exist in the drug trade (Campos, 2015).
Working as a mule is also extremely dangerous, not only because swallowed pellets can easily burst within the body causing massive amounts of drugs to enter their system, but also due to the high likelihood of being arrested (Bailey, 2013) (Campos, 2015). This is indeed one of the main reasons economically vulnerable women are employed to work as mules, as it keeps the men, who usually fulfill higher up roles, safe from arrest. In addition, there are always more economically vulnerable women who are willing to risk getting caught in order to make money to support their families (Campos, 2015).
In addition to facing incarceration, women who work as mules to support their family also risk losing access to their children if they are caught. In their study into the Santa Monica prison in Peru, Campos found that many women had to deal with their children being put into orphanages when they were arrested. One woman, who had been living in New York was arrested while on holiday in Peru, as she was found in her friend’s car, which was loaded with drugs. Although she was not directly involved in the drug industry, she lost her green card and thus access to her child in the US (Campos, 2015). Although women can gain some degree of economic independence through the drug industry, it ultimately comes with far more risks than benefits.
Some women have managed to penetrate the upper echelons of the drug industry, through which they have been able to find significant empowerment. In studying the drug trade along the Mexico-U.S. border, Campbell has found there are multiple female drug lords, who break traditional gender binaries in an industry that is dominated by men (Campbell, 2008). These women are usually attracted to the excitement and power they can achieve through their criminal pursuits, and often model themselves after the macho male drug lords (Campbell, 2008).
Women in this level of the drug trade are arguably the only portion who are able to operate independently of men, with full autonomy, and are able to achieve a large degree of empowerment through the industry (Campbell, 2008). Although there are some scholars who are showing that there is significant variety in choices and consequences surrounding female involvement in the illicit drug business, there is still significant research that needs to be done into the involvement of women in the illicit drug trade (Fleetwood, 2015) (Van San & Sikkens, 2017).
Admittedly, it is quite difficult to examine these women outside of prisons, due to the nature of the drug industry itself (Campbell, 2008). Particularly research should be done into the motivations for female involvement in the industry that stray from the assumptions that women are only becoming involved out of necessity and a need to care for their families (Bailey, 2013) (Campos, 2015). In addition, the ways in which women can find empowerment through being involved in illicit trades (Campbell, 2008). These two factors would help to create an understanding of female participation in crimes not solely as victims (Fleetwood, 2015).
Bibliography:
- Anderson, T. (2005). Dimensions of women’s power in the illicit drug economy. Theoretical Criminology, 9(4), 371-400. doi: 10.1177/1362480605057725
- Bailey, C. (2013). Exploring Female Motivations for Drug Smuggling on the Island of Barbados. Feminist Criminology, 8(2), 117-141. doi: 10.1177/1557085112474837
- Campbell, H. (2008). Female Drug Smugglers on the U.S.-Mexico Border: Gender, Crime, and Campos, S. (2015). The Santa Monica prison and illegal cocaine: a mutual relationship. Crime, Law And Social Change, 65(3), 251-268. doi: 10.1007/s10611-015-9577-3
- Fleetwood, J. (2015). Mafias, Markets, Mules: Gender Stereotypes in Discourses About Drug Trafficking. Sociology Compass, 9(11), 962-976. doi: 10.1111/soc4.12323
- Mahtani, S. (2013). Women and the Criminalization of Poverty: Perspectives from Sierra Leone. Signs: Journal Of Women In Culture And Society, 39(1), 243-264. doi: 10.1086/670919
- VAN SAN, M., & SIKKENS, E. (2017). Families, Lovers, and Friends: Women, Social Networks,
