Poverty, abuse and discriminatory laws are driving a huge rise in the number of women in prison globally, according to a new report.
With the rise of the far right and an international backlash against women’s rights, the research said there was a risk that laws would increasingly be used to target women, forcing more behind bars.
More than 733,000 women are in prisons around the world and the number is growing much faster than rates of incarcerated men. Since 2000, the number of women and girls in prison has grown by 57%, compared with a 22% increase in the male prison population.
The first global report of its kind, to which the Guardian was given exclusive access before its launch on 17 March, examined how laws criminalised acts of survival. Women were disproportionately jailed for petty theft, such as stealing food for babies and children, for begging and for working in the informal economy.
They were also frequently detained for debt, in violation of international law, said the report by Penal Reform International and Women Beyond Walls.
Sabrina Mahtani, from Women Beyond Walls, said: “Prison is not a safe space for women or their children. Yet, rather than investing in support services and community solutions, countries continue to criminalise those who are marginalised and vulnerable.”
Sia Fatmata Deen, a former police officer and president of the Freetown chapter of Go Bifo (Moving Forward) in Sierra Leone, a network of women who have spent time in prison, was detained in 2013 for more than a year after a misunderstanding at work. A bike that had been reported stolen was being held at the police station overnight and went missing. Deen was held liable and asked to pay 5.5m leone (£186). When she was unable to pay, she was imprisoned until she could get the money.
Many women Deen has met have been arrested, detained and labelled as criminals for acts stemming from poverty. The two most common offences women are charged with in the country are “fraudulent conversion” (using someone else’s money or property for illegal purposes) and “obtaining goods or money by false pretence” – both fall under the colonial-era Larceny Act.
Civil society organisations said the offences were misunderstood and the colonial-era law was being used to criminalise almost any instance of debt. Other women who were imprisoned under the act included victims of domestic abuse and those who had resorted to sex work or selling drugs to provide for their families.
Deen said: “More women are going to prison because of poverty. If you have money, you will not go and sell drugs. If you have money, you will not go and borrow microfinance loans.
“Women are the ones that have needs to take care of, and if we don’t have the money to do so, we’ll do extraordinary things. And then we’ll have conflict with the law,” she said. “There is a poor justice system in Sierra Leone.”
Women around the world continue to be arrested under colonial-era laws, including those criminalising abortion, suicide attempts and same-sex relations.
Although many of these laws appear gender-neutral, they disproportionately impact women due to patriarchal norms and systemic gender discrimination.
In several countries, laws criminalising witchcraft mostly affected women who do not conform to gender stereotypes, said the report, with unmarried women, widows, divorcees or those without children – particularly older and poorer individuals – particularly targeted.
Women’s choices about their dress and appearance were also frequently restricted by laws.
In May 2022, a Zambian businesswoman and social media influencer, Iris Kaingu, was arrested and charged with “indecent dressing”, after attending a fashion event wearing a see-through black dress.
In Iran, not wearing a hijab was already a criminal offence under the Islamic penal code, but new morality laws introduced last year allowed significant fines and longer prison sentences of up to 15 years or even the death penalty for “promoting nudity, indecency, unveiling or improper dressing”.
The report warned that the female prison population could soon exceed one million, and called for wider collection of data on the topic, more alternatives to prison and decriminalising laws that violate human rights standards and international law.
