Introduction

Carceral spaces in the Global North and South are united and profoundly similar in their relative disregard for the needs and experiences of women who pass through their gates. Women’s treatment in these spaces; the overall norms of patriarchal confinement that frame these institutions; and the nature of gendered harms embedded in them are common features of punishment across the globe and these frame the focus of this collection. This Introductory chapter unpacks central themes that emerge throughout this collection and considers our overall political standpoint and methodological framework as a collective of feminist scholars researching women’s imprisonment across different jurisdictions. This chapter covers themes concerning new developments in the theoretical and methodological toolkits available for understanding gendered punishment,  and explores also the contextual, cultural, and spatial dynamics affecting how we research and engage with gendered punishment as a global problem. The chapter ends by discussing central arguments emerging from the rest of the collection on the lived experiences and treatment of women in prisons and explores the long-term harms, trauma, and violence endured by women in carceral settings across the world. The chapter, along with the rest of the collection, calls for a critique of the patriarchal contours of contemporary punishment and advocates for a transformative, anti-carceral agenda for gender justice.