"Why don't they just leave?" This is a question often asked by many people as to why battered women do not leave their homes. Women are wives, daughters, mothers and workers in a culture where men dominate with power and control. Men in power can socially organize women who are less powerful. Women's roles in society involve being the primary care givers of their children, consumers and sole supporting heads of the household. Men in power, control and modify women's behavior and social roles in this society.
             Men who dominate our society, culture and homes are in power. Throughout our government, law enforcement and judicial system men make the rules. It is therefore apparent that they would make laws to protect themselves but not women. "Women's crimes mirror women's lives." In our society women's social roles are considered less valuable then men's. When women are not given choices to change their circumstances because they are not in power, they will commit crimes that are defined by men to keep them powerless. According to socialist feminism, formal and informal controls that keep women powerless are consistent with their roles in society. The feminization of poverty and laws that target only women as offenders are key ideas that help to keep women powerless.
             Women's crimes are a direct result of how they are living. If you look at the profiles of women who have been incarcerated most of them have deprived and unstable backgrounds. They are often abused physically, emotionally and sexually. Also, they often have extreme social, emotional and financial barriers. According to, reports done on women offenders, 53% of women who were incarcerated were unemployed, most only had a high school education and most women were over 30 years old. Most of them were involved in drugs and some prostitution. Their lives were a disaster before having been incarcerated.
             Men's liv...