CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium

The Effects of Globalization and the War on Drugs on the Exploitation of Female Drug Mules

Parker-Reed, SSWAC

In essence, the primary victims of the United States War on Drugs are women of color. The global increase of womens imprisonment in the past two decades can arguably be attributed to this increased surveillance, control and obsession with trafficking of illegal substances, mainly with their carriers. Since women are increasingly carrying these drugs across borders, they are also increasingly filling many American jail cells. This has caused an unfair cultural demonization of these women that lacks the cultural and historical background of their formation as criminally active people. I will argue for a transnational feminist approach to the criminalization of women involved in drug trafficking, focusing on the effects of globalization and U.S. led neoliberal economic and crime control policies. I argue that it is the process of globalization and the spreading of U.S neoliberal tactics that has forced many of these women into criminalized behaviors such as drug trafficking. Essentially, this works to reinforce the highly patriarchal nature of drug cartels by exploiting the carrier and protecting the drug lords. This understanding will change the way that we view female drug mules, and work to combat their demonization.

https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/clas/2014/program/8