Gender and white-collar crime: examining representations of women in media?

Abstract

Using documentary research methodology, we collected empirical data from three national Norwegian newspapers to examine the issue of gender and white-collar crime to examine representations of women in the media. Only 8 out of the 179 white-collar criminals presented in Norwegian newspapers in the years from 2009 to 2011 were women. This low ratio mirrors the representation of women entrepreneurs per se in the media in general. Issues surrounding white-collar crime are generally discussed in the literature of criminology using criminological theories, not entrepreneurship theories. As a result, little consideration has been given to the business issues surrounding white-collar criminality. We therefore synthesize material from the literatures of criminology and entrepreneurship to help answer the research question.