Gendered Carceral Logics in Social Work: The Blurred Boundaries in Gender Equality Policies for Imprisoned and Battered Women in Spain

Abstract

This article uses feminist critical analysis as a conceptual framework in order to reflect upon the carceral drifts adopted by gender equality policies in Spain. This issue has been deeply analyzed in the American context, and we believe it is relevant to bring the experiences of other contexts into discussion, such the Spanish one, where the welfare state has been affected by the 2008 global financial crisis. With the aim of adding to the discussion and making a contribution from feminisms and social work perspectives, this work carries out a comparative analysis on carceral policies addressed to women, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, on protection policies for women victims of gender-based violence. Based on our fieldwork in Andalucia (Spain) for more than 10 years, as well as on legal and programmatical text analysis, we question the alleged control/protection separation, highlighting the existence of gendered carceral logics in both contexts. We highlight the social control to which women are subject and for which subjects women to the image of a “good victim” on the one hand and a “good mother” on the other.