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Pink Collar Crime

Sociologyindex, Sociology Books 2011, Organized Crime, White-Collar Crime, Blue-collar crime, Pink-collar Crime, Political Crime, Corporate crime

The term pink-collar crime was coined by Kathleen Daly during the 1980s to describe embezzlement type crimes that typically were committed by females based on limited opportunity. In this context, women were more likely to have committed low level crimes such as check kiting and book-keeping fraud from positions of less power compared to men who had engaged in acts of white-collar crime.

Freda Adler argues that opportunity is central to understanding the involvement of women in white-collar crime: "There is no “masculinization.” Women have made it because the doors have been opened. They use the same tactics as men. These are human characteristics not male or female—they are not gender issues in science. Women are making a lot of money now and it will only increase as their opportunity increases. They too will take advantage of the opportunity to go further—cut corners, make more money as it presents itself—legal and illegal. They are driven by the same factors and motivations as men."

The term "pink collar" denotes jobs and employment sectors dominated by women workers.

The term "pink collar" was used in order to distinguish certain jobs from white collar jobs, and also to distinguish women in these roles from other white-collar workers. Pink collar work did not require much professional training and did not offer equal pay or prestige.

Pink collar positions have increased as more and more women enter the workforce. Industrialization has increased the scope for the services provided by pink collar workers.

Embezzlement represents an equal opportunity crime and overall rates for women tend to be slightly higher than men. In 2002, a reported 5,917 embezzlement crimes were attributed to women compared to 5,898 men. According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, that same year, men were responsible for stealing larger amounts of money (median =$185,000) compared to women (median = $48,000). A handful of embezzlement studies, though dated, have focused on female offenders and have confirmed trends that women tend to commit embezzlement at a higher rate, steal less money, and invoke different rationalizations for their actions compared to men.

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