Engendering Crime Prevention: International Developments and the Canadian Experience

Abstract

This article discusses the absence of gender in crime prevention in Canada and internationally. It outlines the development of parallel streams of work on violence against women and women's safety and argues that there is a need to integrate them into a concerted gendered approach, particularly at the level of municipalities. It draws on developing work on women's safety, gender, and the role of women in decision making in local government. The first part of the article is based on a review of international policy and practice on women's safety; it discusses recent trends and developments, as well as some of the problems and questions raised. These relate to the apparently separate worlds of expertise and activity that have grown up around violence against women and women's safety, the emergence of the concept of gender, and the isolation of these areas of work from mainstream crime prevention. The second part of the article evaluates Canadian performance in engendering crime prevention and makes some recommendations for embedding and sustaining engendered practice, particularly at the local level.