A New Emancipatory Script: gendered post-sentence discrimination and experiences of reintegration

This chapter explores narratives of reintegration as a ‘second chance’, questioning the extent to which desistance theories and redemption scripts reflect the experiences of criminalised women or inadvertently reinforce women’s experiences of systemic discrimination. Using a critical feminist lens, the chapter considers the gendered nature of what is framed in the discourse as ‘good work’, and whether ‘redemption’ is out of reach for women unable to take up paid work, condemning them to permanently spoiled identities. Drawing on the criminological and social care literature, the chapter explores what is meant by a ‘productive life’ arguing that the emphasis placed on paid work is both stultifying and under-researched. Despite women’s inclination to move on, the collateral consequences of conviction undermine their agency to reintegrate through all forms of work. If employment is one of the strongest factors in desistance, society needs to reformulate what work means for women. It closes by calling for the field to move to an Emancipatory Script, referencing the work of two UK-wide charities, Unlock and Working Chance, which centre lived experience