Female Gangs

Many people think female gangs are just auxilliaries of male gangs. Our research in Milwaukee questions this commonly held view. African American female gangs saw themselves as very independent of male gangs. But with Latina gangs the data get more interesting. While half thought their women "called the shots" and a third said they had meetings on their own, a significant number disagreed--about the same gang?

In other words the girls in latina gangs varied on whether they thought the gang was independent or not! Why? It's not clear, but it seems that the more independent the female gang members, the more likely she was to say the gang was independent. The more traditional the female gang member, the more likely she was to say the gang was run by the boys. In other words, the female gang is "socially constructed" and it may not be so easy to categorize a female gang as a "male auxilliary" or as "independent"

For more on this, read "Fighting Female" by John Hagedorn and Mary Devitt in Female Gangs in America.

What happens to female gang members as they get older? Click here.

Female gangs and violence.

Gang Structure by Ethnicity

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:	AFRICAN AMERICANS	LATINAS	SIGNIF.
1. Who called the shots?			p< .05
Girls on their own	88.2%	46.2%
Both girls & guys	5.9%	15.4%
Guys	5.9%	23.1%
Other		15.4%*
2. Who decided who got in?			p< .05
Girls on their own	87.5%	44.2%
Both girls & guys		32.7%
Guys	12.5%	17.3%
Other		5.8%
3. Did the girls have meetings on their own?			p<.01
Yes	77.8%	31.5%
no	22.2%	66.7%
No Response		1.9%
4. Did gang have leaders?			N. S. p< .34
yes	66.7%	53.8%
no	33.3%	46.2%
5. How organized was the gang?			p<.07
Very Organized	16.7%	3.8%
Organized	50.0%	71.2%
Not Very Organized	16.7%	21.2%
Noit Organized at all	16.7%	3.8%

This table shows that Latina gang members differed on basic questions of "fact" like "did the gang have leaders."
This points to the socially constructed nature of gangs.

Here are some further differences by ethnicity.Latinas were more likely to see the guys as treating them like "possessions."

Other Gang Differences by Ethnicity

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:	AFRICAN AMERICANS	LATINAS	SIGNIF.
1. The guys treated the girlslike possessions.			p<.001
true	29.4%	87.0%
not true	70.6%	13.0%
2 Did the women deal drugsby themselves or were they a part of the guy's operation?			p< .06
by themselves	8.3%	1.9%
part of the guys operation	8.3%	42.3%
not deal, no response	83.3%	55.8%
3. Did you ever use cocaine on a daily basis?			p<.01
yes	27.8%	66.7%
no	72.2%	33.3%
4. How often did you go to school high when you were a teenager?			p<.05
never	38.9%	42.0%
once in a while		28.0%
at least once a week	22.2%	10.0%
almost every day	38.9%	20.0%
5. Was gang more positive or negative?			p< .01
More Positive	3.3% 5.7%	5.7%
Mixed	50.0%	58.5%
More Negative	16.7%	35.8%
6. Did you go with anyone in the gang?			p<.08
yes	61.1%	81.5%
no	38.9%	18.5%

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