Abstract
Organized crime scholars have paid scant attention to gender and stereotyped roles of women in the commission of organized crime activities. Traditionally, organized crime is seen as a form of criminality perpetrated by men only. Women are usually portrayed as victims of organized crime or as “mean girls”, girlfriends, wives, lovers of brides of notorious gangsters and mobsters. In the southern African context, little historical or comparative data is available on the role of women in organized crime. Existing data is basic and proceeds on the assumption of gender-neutrality or the implied male composition of organized crime groups. The link of women to organized crime is one of suffering and exploitation. However, in reality women fulfill varied roles and functions within transnational organized crime networks in the region. In some instances, they are the foot soldiers of drug and human trafficking syndicates. Sometimes they are the intermediaries or powerful matriarchs at the apex of transnational organized crime networks. Reliant on empirical findings undertaken for a regional 3-year project on organized crime trends in southern Africa, this paper will examine the dynamism of the role of women in organized crime in the region and argues that women play a multifaceted role with implications for themselves, their families, society and organized crime. Gender mainstreaming within scholarly literature and policy research is in nascent stages, this paper pleads for a more gender-sensitive approach to organized crime analysis.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Fieldwork was undertaken in the following Southern African countries: Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Institute for Security Studies (ISS) collaborated with the sub-regional policing body, the Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Cooperation Organization (SARPCCO). At the time of the project inception, Madagascar and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) were not SARPCCO members and were hence not included during data collection.
Wannenberg and Irish-Qhobosheane found evidence that some South African organized crime groups were already active in the 1950s and possibly earlier (Wannenberg and Irish-Qhobosheane 2007: 181).
Because it opened for signature to state parties in Palermo in 2000, the convention is also known as the Palermo Convention. The shortened version will be used in the remainder of the paper.
The five-country project examined trends, the profile of victims and perpetrators and the role of organized crime networks in human trafficking in Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Four field researchers and several research assistants worked on the project.
The Institute for Security Studies is currently engaged in a 3-year project that examines criminal governance in Sub-Saharan urban centers. The project seeks to answer, amongst other research questions, how women propagate, benefit from and/or become disempowered by criminal networks.
The research project on human trafficking trends in southern Africa included three case studies, which described recruitment aided and abetted by family members.
Interview with the trafficked women in Windhoek, Namibia (2007).
Interview with guardians, law enforcement and the International Organization for Migration, Harare, Zimbabwe (2007-2008).
Focus group with sex workers in Walvis Bay, Namibia (2009).
Unpublished research data collected for the regional project on organized crime trends.
Interviews with law enforcement, border and customs officials, victims of trafficking and NGOs in Angola, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe (2007–2011).
Interviews with trafficking victims, law enforcement officials and NGOs in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia (2007–2011).
KwaZulu Natal is a province of South Africa.
Interview with law enforcement official in Durban, South Africa (2012)
See in the City Press http://www.citypress.co.za/news/sa-sends-clear-message-to-human-traffickers-20110720/ (accessed 6 April 2013) or https://ccarht.wordpress.com/tag/adina-dos-santos/ (accessed 6 April 2013).
Based on research report submitted by Salomão Mungoi (2010).
Interview with law enforcement officials and health practitioners in Pretoria, South Africa (2011).
The factory closed down in 2008.
Based on interviews with labour experts in Windhoek, Namibia (2007–2008) and research reports submitted by John Grobler.
Based on intelligence reports and interviews conducted with law enforcement officials, drug dealers, academics and the UNODC across southern Africa (2006–2013).
Figures are derived from interviews with drug mules, family and friends of drug mules, law enforcement officials and intelligence reports (2011).
The section is based on interviews with drug mules, parents and family of drug mules, law enforcement officials and airport security staff in Kempton Park, Pretoria, George and Johannesburg, South Africa (2008–2011).
Interviews with airport staff at Oliver Thambo International Airport in Kempton Park, South Africa (2009).
An excellent profile of an old grandmother who grows “Swazi gold” (cannabis from Swaziland) near Piggs Peak in Swaziland was published in the New York Times by Lydia Polygreen (2012).
Based on unpublished research reports detailing cannabis smuggling in Lesotho, Swaziland and South Africa submitted by Jackson Madzima and the author’s own interviews with cannabis smugglers and law enforcement officials in southern Africa (2008–2011).
Interview with law enforcement official in the drug unit at the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations, Pretoria, South Africa (2011).
Interviews with drug dealers and law enforcement officials across the region and observations at ‘hotspots’ (2008–2011)
Charmaine Moss, the other recruit, became suspicious and pulled out after an initial meeting with Cwele’s business partner. Cwele had offered to send her on an overseas assignment for 2 weeks, all expenses paid and a paycheck of US $ 2,900. Her assignment was to travel to Turkey and return to South Africa delivering a package to the business partner (Underhill 2012).
Siyabonga Cwele was in charge of the state intelligence apparatus in South Africa at the time and has remained in that position since the conviction of his ex-wife.
Interviews with law enforcement officials and family members of Beetge (2009–2010).
It should be noted that poaching should not be confused with hunting for food. Sustainable hunting of wildlife forms parts of survival strategies of many African communities, while unsustainable poaching of endangered wildlife is the exception.
The powerful anesthetic is used to immobilize large mammals.
Interview with wildlife veterinarian in Pretoria, South Africa (2013).
Interviews with investigators, wildlife veterinarians and suppliers of M–99 in South Africa (2013).
Province of South Africa.
The case against one of his accomplices, the game farmer Marnus Steyl, was re-opened in December 2012. Steyl allegedly supplied rhinos to the Vietnamese syndicate. He has been charged with 29 counts of fraud relating to the acquisition of hunting permits for alleged pseudo–hunts (Rademeyer 2013).
References
Adler F (1975) Sisters in crime. McGraw Hill, New York
Allum F (2007) Doing it for themselves or standing in for their men? Women in the Neapolitan Camorra (1950–2003). In: Fiandaca G (ed) Women and the mafia. Springer, New York, pp 9–17
Anonymous, Girl gangs terrorise Cape Flats. In: news24, 13 April 2012. http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Girl-gangs-terrorise-Cape-Flats-20120413
Ayling J (2012) What sustains wildlife crime? Rhino horn trading and the resilience of criminal networks Available for download at: http://ips.cap.anu.edu.au/ir/tec/publications/
Beare M (2010) Women and organized crime. Department of public Safety, Canada, http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection…/PS4-106-2010-eng.pdf
Chapman JR (1980) Economic realities and the female offender. Lexington Books, Lexington
Chesney-Lind M, Pasko L (2013) The female offender: girls, women and crime. SAGE Publications, Thousand Oaks
CITES Secretariat (2013) Rhinoceroses, Sixteenth meeting of the Conference of Parties, Bangkok, Thailand: CITES Secretariat
Dino A (2007) Symbolic domination and active power: female roles in criminal organizations. In: Fiandaca G (ed) Women and the mafia. Springer, New York, pp 67–86
Dino A et al (2007) Female visibility in the mafia world: press review 1980 to 2001. In: Fiandaca G (ed) Women and the mafia. Springer, New York, pp 107–136
Endangered Wildlife Trust (2011) Perspectives on dehorning and legalised trade in rhino horn as tools to combat rhino poaching. Paper presented at onference on Perspectives on dehorning and legalised trade in rhino horn as tools to combat rhino poaching, The South African Mint Company, Gateway, Centurion, South Africa, 1–3 March 2011
Fiandaca G (2007) Women and the mafia: female roles in organized crime. Springer, New York
Gastrow P (2001) Organized crime in the SADC region: police perception. Institute for Security Studies, Pretoria
Global Financial Integrity (2011) Transnational crime in the developing world. Research report. Global Financial Integrity, Washington, http://transcrime.gfintegrity.org/
Heidensohn F, Gelsthorpe L (2007) Gender and crime. In: Maguire M, Morgan R, Reiner R (eds) The Oxford handbook of criminology. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 341–380
Hübschle A (2010–2011) Research into organized crime in Southern Africa. Organized crime and money laundering programme. Institute for Security Studies, Cape Town
Hübschle A (2010) Organised crime in Southern Africa, Institute for Security Studies, Pretoria, South Africa., 2010: organised crime in Southern Africa. Institute for Security Studies, Pretoria, South Africa
Hübschle A (2011) From theory to practice: exploring the organised crime-terror in Nexus in Sub-Saharan Africa. In: Perspectives on Terrorism 5, pp 81–95. http://www.terrorismanalysts.com/pt/index.php/pot/article/view/157/html
Hübschle A, Van der Spuy E (2012) Organized crime and law enforcement in Southern Africa: the challenges confronting research. In: SADC Law Journal 2
Miller EM (1983) International trends in the study of female criminality: an essay review. Crime Law Soc Chang 7:59–70
Milliken T, Shaw J (2012) The South Africa–Viet Nam rhino horn trade nexus: a deadly combination of institutional lapses, corrupt wildlife industry professionals and Asian crime syndicates. TRAFFIC, Johannesburg
Pizzini-Gambetta V (1999) Gender norms in the Sicilian mafia, 1945–86. In: Arnot ML, Usborne C (eds) Gender and crime in modern Europe. ULC Press, London, pp 257–276
Pizzini-Gambetta V (2008) Women and the mafia: a methodology minefield. Glob Crim 9:348–353
Polygreen L (2012) Grandmas grow gold in Swaziland. In: New York Times, 15 August 2012. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/15/world/africa/grandmothers-grow-marijuana-in-swaziland-to-support-families.html?_r=0
Rademeyer J (2012a) Killing for profit: exposing the illegal rhino horn trade. Zebra Press, Cape Town
Rademeyer J (2012b) Rhino butchers caught on film. In: Mail & Guardian, 9 November 2012. http://mg.co.za/article/2012-11-08-rhino-butchers-caught-on-film
Rademeyer J (2013) Marnus Steyl to face new charges over alleged rhino “pseudo-hunts”. Killing for Profit. Johannesburg, South Africa: Julian Rademeyer. http://killingforprofit.com/2012/12/04/marnus-steyl-to-face-new-charges-over-alleged-rhino-pseudo-hunts/ (6 April 2013)
Rawoot I Tales of a female gangster girl. In: Mail and guardian. 17 May 2012. http://mg.co.za/article/2012-05-17-tales-of-a-female-gangster-girl
Rice M (1990) Challenging orthodoxies in feminist theory: a black feminist critique. In: Gelsthorpe L, Morris J (eds) Feminist perspectives in criminology. Open University Press, Buckingham
Ruhfus J (2012) The Nigerian connection. People and power, Al Jazeera. http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/peopleandpower/2011/08/201189141348631784.html (11 October 2012)
Savona E, Natoli G (2007) Women and other mafia-type criminal organizations. In: Fiandaca G (ed) Women and the mafia. Springer, New York, pp 103–106
Schwartz J, Steffensmeier D (2008) The nature of female offending: patterns and explanation. In: Zaplin RT (ed) Female offenders: critical perspectives and effective interventions. Jones and Bartlette, Boston, pp 43–75
Siebert R (2007) Mafia women: the affirmation of a female pseudo-subject. the case of the ‘Ndrangheta. In: Fiandaca G (ed) Women and the mafia. Springer, New York, pp 19–45
Siegel D, de Blank S (2010) Women who traffic women: the role of women in human trafficking networks—Dutch cases. In: Global Crime 11, 436–447
Smart C (1976) Women, crime and criminology. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London
Smart C (1990) Feminist approaches to criminology. In: Gelsthorpe L, Morris J (eds) Feminist perspectives in criminology. Open University Press, Buckingham
Standing A (2006) Organised crime: a study from the Cape Flats. Institute for Security Studies, Pretoria
Steffensmeier DJ (1980) Sex differences in patterns of adult crime, 1965–77: a review and assessment. In: Social Forces 58, 1080–1108. http://sf.oxfordjournals.org/content/58/4/1080.abstract
Underhill G (2012) Emails sealed Sheryl Cwele’s fate. In: Mail and guardian. 5 October 2012. http://mg.co.za/article/2012-10-05-00-emails-sealed-sheryl-cweles-fate
United Nations General Assembly, 15 November 2000: United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. Adopted by General Assembly resolution 55/25, United Nations. http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/treaties/CTOC/#Fulltext
UNODC (2009) Transnational trafficking and the rule of law in West Africa: a threat assessment. Policy Analysis and Research Branch, Vienna
UNODC (2010) The globalization of crime: a transnational organized crime threat assessment. UNODC, Vienna
Wannenberg G, Irish-Qhobosheane J (2007) Threats to stability: an overview of some of the issues affecting organized crime in South Africa. In: Irish-Qhobosheane J (ed) Gentlemen or villains, thugs or heros? The social economy of organized crime in South Africa. South African Institute of International Affairs, Johannesburg, pp 179–210
Zhang S (2011) Woman pullers: pimping and sex trafficking in a Mexican Border City. Crime Law Soc Chang 56:509–528
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Contribution to the Special Issue of Trends in Organized Crime: Women and Transnational Crime
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hübschle, A. Of bogus hunters, queenpins and mules: the varied roles of women in transnational organized crime in Southern Africa. Trends Organ Crim 17, 31–51 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12117-013-9202-8
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12117-013-9202-8