Structural poverty and female prisoners - implications for fieldwork - the case of Lesotho

A workshop paper on gender and structural poverty in Lesotho penitentiaries.This paper addresses the case of female prisoners incarcerated in the Female Prison in Maseru, Lesotho. Attention is given to the link between structural poverty and its impact on female prisoners. The increasingly negative impact of structural adjustment programmes in exacerbating the lives of women and children in cited. A brief overview of the literature ’ s current thinking of female criminals is used to introduce the section on the Maseru Female Prison’s study. The paper concludes with a discussion of the importance of work with this population.Overseas Development Administration; British Development Division (Central Africa