NCJ Number
197580
Date Published
2001
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This chapter considers how women, as workers and consumers, are harmed by corporate deviance.
Abstract
Kramer (1983) defined "corporate violence" as follows: "Corporate behavior which produces an unreasonable risk of physical harm to employees, the general public, and consumers, which is the result of deliberate decision making by persons who occupy positions as corporate managers or executives, which is organizationally based, and which is intended to benefit the corporation itself." Recognition of the concept of corporate violence against women is fairly recent, but not new. Women as employees and consumers have long been special targets of corporate indifference, greed, and arrogance. Corporate power is often enhanced by governmental policies that promote, or at least tacitly facilitate, corporate abuse of women. State support for policies that champion patriarchy and capitalism place women in jeopardy. A socialist-feminist approach to corporate abuse of women posits that women were and are especially vulnerable because of their subordinate position in the social structure. Women's relatively low economic position and segregation in the secondary labor market create a situation in which they are particularly at risk for dangerous employment environments. As consumers, women also face unique risks of corporate harm because of their special biological and cultural roles in society. Two examples are provided of how women as consumers have been exploited and abused by the pharmaceutical industry and breast implant manufacturers. 65 references and 4 discussion questions