Drug Trafficking and Gender: The Invisible Role of Women as Victims and Agents

Abstract

Drug trafficking has been acknowledged as a universal vice that impacts socially, economically and politically in a destructive manner. Nevertheless, its gendered aspects are still under-investigated, especially the two-fold roles that females play in this criminal enterprise both as victims of exploitation and as participants in illegal activities. The use of women in drug activities is usually coerced, exploited or manipulated by poverty, gender inequality, and domestic violence, but women are also strategic participants, and some are compelled to be active because of their survival instinct or because of the marginalization of the system. The paper analyzes the interplay of drug trafficking and gender with special attention to how women are placed invisibly in positions that straddles the victimhood and the agency. Based on international reports, scholarly research, and case studies, the study will examine socio-economic and cultural reasons that force women into drug networks, stigma against them, and how this impacts families and communities. The paper states that women are disproportionately punished in the criminal justice systems, but their structural vulnerabilities are usually overlooked. The research ends with a recommendation of gender-sensitive policies, rehabilitation strategies, and the criminal justice reforms, which deal with the intricacy of the roles of women in drug trafficking.