Why Do Women Commit White Collar Crime

1148 Words5 Pages
When you think of someone committing a white collar crime you think a white male but why not a female? In this paper I will describe why females are less likely to commit white collared crimes and why very few females were involved in the Enron scandal. Men and women are stratified in the workplace with men typical attaining higher positions within the organization. There were many goods exchanged in the scandal that benefitted only some. Woman are seen to be more moral and nurturing. Men are seen to care more about their status and are risk takers which is why they are more likely to commit white collar crimes. In, Gender and Twenty-First Century Corporate Crime: Female Involvement and the Gender Gap in Enron-Era Corporate Frauds, Steffensmeier…show more content…
There were less than 10% of woman involved, “The three women among the 34 employees charged in connection with Enron’s illegal accounting practices each occupied a strategically useful position for the conspiracy and played a minor or no role” (Steffensmeier 466). One woman involved Sheila Kahanek who was an in- house Enron accountant, “was charged with but acquitted of helping push through Enron’s bogus sale of power generating barges to Merrill Lynch to inflate Enron’s earnings” (Steffensmeier 466). She did not participate in the earnings of money or an invitation to celebrate the deal. The second woman involved was Paula Ricker a board secretary. Even though she had a minor role she “She had no role in the larger Enron conspiracy but was charged with insider trading for selling stock upon learning of an upcoming report of a much larger-than-anticipated loss in Enron’s broadband unit” (Steffensmeier 466). She did “turn her back” on some things but not when the CEO Skilling wanted her to fake revenue reports. The last woman involved was Lea Fastow who was the wife of the CFO of Enron. Her contribution was co-signing fake income tax returns because she didn’t report all the money her husband was getting from the scandal. She got about 10 months in prison while her husband got 10 years. Woman in the Enron case were not the real contributors to the scandal, they did not want to take more risks then they were already

More about Why Do Women Commit White Collar Crime

Open Document