The exponential increase in the annual number of women released from prison in the United States underscores the imperative need for holistic, fully integrated gender-responsive reentry services. The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand the unique contributions of paraprofessional staff charged with meeting the multi-layered, programmatic needs of women offenders with co-occurring disorders. A qualitative, evidence-based interview guide was used to analyze the utilization of gender-responsive services provided by 21 paraprofessionals throughout four Southern California Counties. The findings indicate that while paraprofessional staff members understand the concept and approach of gender-responsive oriented services, there remain significant programmatic barriers that not only impair the reduction of recidivism rates, but also undermine successful community reentry efforts. These findings support the inherent micro and macro-based approaches to social work that acknowledge a systems approach to improving outcomes for women offenders striving toward health and wellness.

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It is no secret that over the last several decades, prison populations have grown exponentially due to an increasingly “tough on crime” policy stance and war on drugs. Although male offending populations continue to make up the majority of prison inmates nationwide, the fastest growing prison population has actually been female offenders, many who are locked up for nonviolent offenses like drug possession and larceny. Until recently, female offenders have been treated as an afterthought to male-dominated prison statistics. However, further research shows that female offending patterns are starkly different from their male counterparts, and women are contributing to higher recidivism rates because of their unmet needs prior to, during, and after incarceration. Therefore, this paper argues that state and federal governments must institute gender-responsive policies in order to combat stubbornly high recidivism rates through reentry alternatives, especially halfway houses.

Climate change poses a threat to agriculture. Ghana’s agriculture is mainly dependent on rainfall, this makes subsistence farmers majority of whom are women more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. That said, the impacts of climate change are felt differently by men and women due to their social assigned roles and responsibilities. This study examined the dimensions along which gender matters in adaptation strategies.The study used a case study approach, the Ejisu municipality in Ghana was selected for the study. To understand the gender narratives and how this affects adaptation strategies 10 farmers, and 2 agriculture extension officers were sampled. An inductive approach was used to analyze the core themes that emerged from the data.The findings of the study show that smallholder farmers in Ejisu municipality are changing their agricultural practices due to the changes in climatic conditions. Female farmers were seen to be less adaptive due to gender norms and challenges with access to productive resources. The common adaptative measures used by both male and female farmers are crop rotation, mixed farming, use of agrochemicals, organic fertilizers, leaving land fallow, delayed planting, and conservative agriculture.The study findings further show there are complexities in gender dimensions in the agricultural process and this affects adaptation strategies. The study recommends raising public awareness on climate change by providing adequate support to train farmers on sustainable adaptation, strengthening institutional capacity to ensure gender-responsive initiatives in agriculture, and create equitable access to resources to enhance adaptive capacities.

This thesis is built on the knowledge and experience I learned working with CURB and as a member of L.A. No More Jail, particularly in the ongoing fight against the Mira Loma gender responsive “Women’s Village” Jail expansion, which is part of a larger jail building boom on going in California right now. I write this thesis to engage in the reimagining of justice that abolitionist community organizers, formerly and currently incarcerated people and others who work to challenge the prison industrial complex have been envisioning for California.

As a consequence of increased awareness and the current scholarly debate regarding women's differential predictors of recidivism, criminal justice agencies are working with researchers in the field to expand their knowledge in this area. In 2007, Portland State University researchers in collaboration with the Oregon Department of Corrections conducted an investigation of factors emerging in the pathways and gender responsive literature as predictive of women's recidivism in a randomly selected sample of female (n=150) and male (n=150) inmates. This study used information gathered from that investigation for two purposes: (1) to assess the prevalence rates of victimization experiences (childhood, adolescent and adulthood), substance abuse and mental health diagnosis across male and female ODOC inmates, and (2) to assess the predictive nature of victimization experiences, substance abuse and mental health diagnoses on recidivism across gender after a three year period. Findings suggest that females suffered from higher rates of victimization experiences throughout their lifetime than male ODOC inmates and higher rates of DSM-IV-TR mood and anxiety diagnosis. Similar rates were found across gender when assessing substance abuse and diagnosis of co-occurring disorders. When assessing the predictive impact of victimization, substance abuse and mental health diagnosis on recidivism this study found support for both gender neutral and gender responsive perspectives.

Current research on girls and delinquency has brought to awareness the often stressful and traumatic lives of girls. Furthermore, the last three decades have seen an increase in the proportion of girls entering the Juvenile Justice System and an increase in the proportion of girl’s court ordered to attend military structured treatment programs. Developed with boys in mind, many researchers in the area of female delinquency believe that military structured treatment programs are less effectiveness for girls. Thus, the goal of the current study is to consider the experience of girls in a military structured residential treatment facility. Additionally, this study sought to answer the following questions posed by the administrative personnel of this program: 1) Why do staff members report more difficulties when working with the girls? 2) Why are girls more emotionally labile than boys? 3) What changes can be made to the program to increase girls’ success in the program? Participants in this study were referred to a military structured residential treatment program. At the time of the study, four girls, ages 14 to 16, participated in the study. In addition to the girls’ participation, staff members including drill instructors, program officers, teachers, health professionals, and administrative staff participated in the study. The current study utilized an ethnographic approach to explore and identify information that may be useful in better understanding the research questions. The Listening Guide Method (Brown & Gilligan, 1992) was utilized to conduct a narrative analysis of the interviews with both the girls and staff members. Results demonstrated that while in the program, services provided were uneven in both scope and quality. For example, lack of training among staff members resulted in missed opportunities to teach the girls necessary skills that would enable them to tolerate emotional distress while in the program and at home. In order to better meet the needs of the girls, it is recommended that this program strive to integrate both military and therapeutic programming, and educate and train all its staff members in the delivery of gender-responsive programming. / text

South Africa started the Women’s Budget Initiative in 1995 as part of its commitment to meeting its gender equality objectives and gender mainstreaming. However, in later years, research has found that government Gender Responsive Budgeting or GRB initiatives in South Africa are either dormant or dead. There is a range of reasons for this and some of them are not directly related to gender budgets or even gender. Research has shown that perhaps the greatest weakness is the lack of advocacy. From the review of existing literature, it is clear that there is a need for strong alliances between key stakeholders, which are Parliament, non-governmental organisations, academics, United Nations and the media to sustain the momentum of the gender budget process. Capacity building and training are also important for budget officers, civil society, national and local parliamentarians, given the low level of skilled financial personnel in municipalities. The availability of adequate sex-disaggregated data is an important success factor for municipalities so that they can deliver services equitably to their communities. This research is exploratory in nature and focuses on assessing GRB in one of South Africa’s largest urban municipalities. It also reviewed the 2012/13 Integrated Development Plan through a focus on health, housing infrastructure, safety and security and education. These are some of the wellknown variables to ease the plight of the poor and are good quality of life indicators for men, women, boys and girls. The research method that has been used in this research is both qualitative and quantitative. This study has found that there is no clear co-coordinated plan for the implementation of GRB in this metropolitan municipality. The lack of resources is also seen as the main challenge to GRB in this metropolitan municipality. / Public Administration / M.P.A.

The number of females arrested for violent crimes has increased. The juvenile justice system continues to be challenged with developing gender-based treatment strategies to accommodate female delinquents. The purpose of this study was to examine probation officers' perceptions of the treatment provided for female delinquents and its ability to rehabilitate, reduce recidivism, and promote successful transition among female delinquents. The framework of this study encompassed the feminist theory from a criminology perspective. Data collection included interviews with 5 probation officers in El Paso County's Juvenile Justice Detention Center. Interviews were reviewed to generate a summary of relevancy. Themes and codes pertaining to the research were identified for analysis. The participants provided several recommendations for treating the female delinquent; they also identified that a lack of resources and funding for gender-responsive treatment contributed to the systems' inability to provide gender-specific treatment for female delinquents. Implementation by the Juvenile Justice Department of gender-responsive programs would respond to the varied needs of female delinquents; thereby increasing rehabilitation, reducing recidivism, and promoting successful transition among female delinquents. This implementation would benefit society as a whole, producing productive members who are able to affect social change.

Although women offenders face barriers to successful reentry into their communities, as yet, no research has explored their experiences in accessing health care reentry services. Medicaid enrollment, the process of applying for Medicaid coverage, can be offered as a health care reentry service. Women offenders in jails have shorter sentencing times compared to those in prison, which presents Medicaid enrollment opportunities before release. The Second Chance Act provides the opportunity for reentry services, and the Affordable Care Act provides the opportunity for Medicaid coverage for women offenders. This phenomenological study explored the attitudes of women offenders about Medicaid enrollment and coverage. The conceptual framework for this study was the Andersen's behavioral model. Interviews were conducted with 11 women offenders who were randomly recruited, spoke English, had a minimum of a 6th grade education, and were not on restriction based on jail policy. Data were collected and coded to develop themes for analysis and interpretation. Most participants had an adequate understanding of the purpose of Medicaid coverage and had favorable perceptions of Medicaid enrollment. Barriers to Medicaid enrollment were identified: a lack of language proficiency, denial of coverage, poor health literacy, and a lack of understanding of health information. Facilitators to Medicaid enrollment were identified: providing a translator, being treated with respect as a person to reduce stigma, and assistance with enrollment forms. These findings can contribute to positive social change. Jails have the chance to address these barriers and incorporate the facilitators to make it simpler for women offenders to enroll in Medicaid before released from jail.