© 2007 BY THE JOURNAL OF DRUG ISSUES

WOMEN IN THE DRUG ECONOMY: A METASYNTHESIS

OF THE QUALITATIVE LITERATURE
LISA MAHER, SUSAN L. HUDSON

This paper aims to review and examine the qualitative research literature on
women in the illicit drug economy and to identify and integrate key themes using
the technique of qualitative metasynthesis. A search of citation lists and online
bibliographic databases identified a total of 36 studies, 15 of which met the inclusion
criteria of generating findings in relation to female participation using qualitative
or ethnographic research methods. Results suggest that the drug economy is a
gender-stratified labor market and that while women draw on a diverse range of
economic and social resources, including informal sector networks such as those
involved in sex work, family, and community and welfare networks, most women in
most drug markets remain confined to low-level and marginal roles.

INTRODUCTION
Interest in the participation of women in the drug economy appeared to reach
a peak during the 1990s with the publication of several studies (Alarid, Marquart,
Burton, Cullen, & Cuvelier, 1996; Denton & O’Malley, 1999; Dunlap & Johnson,
1996; Dunlap, Johnson, & Maher 1997; Fagan, 1994; Jacobs, 1996; Jacobs &
Miller, 1998; Maher, 1997; Mieczkowski, 1994; Miller, 1995; Morgan & Joe,
1996; Waldorf, Reinarman, & Murphy, 1991). Much of this research was initiated
in response to changes in street drug markets in North America with the advent of
crack cocaine. Indeed, these changes led some commentators to claim that crack
cocaine had resulted in the weakening of male-dominated street networks and that
this in turn had paved the way for greater participation by women. Within this
literature, a small number of qualitative studies sought to situate women in the
foreground in order to explore and document their experiences. The current paper
__________

Lisa Maher, Ph.D., heads the Viral Hepatitis Epidemiology and Prevention Program at the National
Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research in Sydney and is Associate Professor in the School
of Public Health and Community Medicine at the University of New South Wales. Susan L. Hudson is a
Ph.D. candidate in the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales
and a social worker with over 10 years of experience in the fields of justice and substance use.

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aims to critically review and examine the qualitative research literature on female
participation in the illicit drug economy and to identify and integrate key themes.
A close audit of this literature resulted in the identification of 15 studies. Here, we
review these studies and attempt to amalgamate their findings.
Until recently, discourses of women’s involvement in drug use and distribution
were dominated by images of passivity and powerlessness. Changes in patterns of
drug use during the 1960s resulted in a paradigm shift away from drug use as a
function of psychopathology to a view of drugs and their users as social and cultural
phenomena (Agar, 1973; Preble & Casey, 1969; Waldorf, 1977; Zinberg, 1984).
Ethnographers such as Preble and Casey (1969) and Agar (1973) depicted male
heroin users as active decision makers exercising considerable agency in relation
to their drug use and their daily lives. Preble and Casey, in particular, provided a
challenging picture of how male heroin users “take care of business.” However,
women were notably absent from these accounts. As Fraser and Valentine have
observed, the relative neglect of women in ethnographic studies can also be seen
as a function of the gender of the researchers. Male ethnographers have dominated
the streets and the literature, privileging the accounts and perspectives of their
(mostly) male informants (Fraser & Valentine, 2005). Studies have tended to
position drug use by men as normative and embedded within masculine cultures
of risk taking and violence, while positioning drug use by women as deviant and
compromising gender, family, and domestic roles (Campbell, 2000). The dominant
discourse around women and drug use within the broader medical and sociological
literature (passivity and powerlessness), coupled with few female led research
projects, produced a body of work that either ignored women drug users or viewed
them through gendered lenses, highlighting their reproductive functioning, sexual
degradation, and psychopathology.
During the late 1980s, the rapid expansion of North American drug markets with
the advent of crack cocaine led to the hypothesis that a weakening of male dominated
street networks had paved the way for greater participation by women (Fagan, 1994;
Inciardi, Lockwood, & Pottieger, 1993; Mieczkowski, 1994). Many researchers
suddenly began to pay attention to women as participants in street drug markets.
Some North American researchers described women holding leadership roles,
working independently of men and the protection they offered, and experiencing
successes and failures similar to their male counterparts (Baskin, Sommers, & Fagan,
1993; Bourgois, 1989; Dunlap & Johnson 1996; Mieczkowski, 1994; Morgan &
Joe, 1996; Waldorf et al., 1991). However, it is difficult to tease out whether there
was in fact greater participation by women in these markets or whether they were
simply more visible—crack having pushed many poor inner-city women out of their
homes and onto the streets (Maher, 1992).

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During the 1990s, ethnographic studies began to reveal a more complex picture
of female involvement in the illicit drug economy. A study of women heroin and
cocaine users in New York City by Maher and Curtis (1992) indicated that while
crack clearly prompted shifts in the gender regimes that structured social and
economic life in and around street-level drug and sex markets, these shifts had not
necessarily strengthened the position of women. Continuity, rather than change, was
the story from these streets, with the advent of crack serving to solidify women’s
positioning within the lowest echelons of the drug and sex trades (Maher, 1996).

These new opportunities said to have emerged with the crack-

propelled expansion of street-level drug markets were not empty
slots waiting to be filled by those with the requisite skill. Rather,
they were slots requiring certain masculine qualities and capacities.
The qualities, while presented as human, are deeply gendered.
(Maher, 1997, p. 197)

While many studies concluded that women’s roles were restricted by male
dominated street drug networks (Adler, 1985; Dunlap & Johnson, 1996; Waldorf
et al., 1991), there is disagreement about the extent of this restriction. For example,
Wilson (1993) argued that while in the past women’s domestic responsibilities
hampered their involvement in drug markets, crack necessitated a home base that
facilitated greater participation by women. However, empirical research indicated
that successful independent female dealers were rare (Dunlap & Johnson, 1996;
Maher, 1997) and Jacobs and Miller concluded that “Ultimately, it seems fair to
say that street culture excludes and restricts female dealers, even as some of these
offenders are able to turn these obstacles into resources” (Jacobs & Miller, 1998,
p. 564). While these studies acknowledged the often subordinate economic roles
occupied by women, at the same time they began to document the logic of female
participation in what appeared to be a gender segmented labor market (Maher, 1997;
Morgan & Joe, 1996).
Other researchers attempted to explore the ways in which women utilized what
are often described as “feminine” attributes, such as communication skills, family
resources, and being less conspicuous than their male counterparts (contextual
assimilation) (Dunlap & Johnson, 1996; Morgan & Joe, 1996; Jacobs & Miller,
1998). In a theoretical examination of the dimensions of women’s power in the illicit
drug economy, Anderson (2005) has argued that the relational power that women
possess is necessary for male accumulation of structural power. The assumption of
interdependence between men and women for the sustainability of the drug economy
provides a useful starting point from which to explore the roles that women play

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and the ways in which they demonstrate agency, and sometimes resistance, against
masculine market forces.
The literature that examines women’s participation in the drug economy is
relatively small, particularly in comparison to the literature cataloguing the exploits
and experiences of men (Denton, 2001; Dunlap et al., 1997; Evans et al., 2003;
Fagan, 1994; Mieczkowski, 1994; Waldorf et al., 1991). Qualitative studies, and
ethnographies in particular, have provided rich examples of the lived experiences
of women in the drug economy. However, by their very nature, the results of these
studies are not generalizable. By reviewing the extant literature on women in the
drug economy and identifying common themes and points of convergence, a more
comprehensive picture is possible. While most studies have reviewed the literature
in order to set the scene for their own work, there has been no attempt to date to
systematically integrate the findings of each of these studies. An integrative approach
such as qualitative metasynthesis has the potential to increase our understanding
of the range of female roles and experiences in the drug economy, provide a
comprehensive overview of the issues, and identify areas for future research
(Meadows-Oliver, 2006; Sandelowski, Docherty, & Emden, 1997).

METHODS
Qualitative metasynthesis is characterized by the integration of key themes
from research that explores a common subject matter (Meadows-Oliver, 2006;
Sandelowski et al., 1997). The guiding principle behind comparative integration
of qualitative research is a desire to enhance understanding of the subject and to
make more general statements about the phenomena under observation. While there
have been several discussions in the literature about the gender-stratified nature of
the illicit drug economy and various attempts to explore this world from a female
perspective, this qualitative metasynthesis takes a further step and seeks to integrate
themes that have been identified over time by different studies and in different
settings, without detracting from their individual contributions to the field.
The studies included in this comparative analysis were identified firstly through
key research projects and their citation lists. These sources were then augmented
with literature searches using the following keywords: crack, dealing, drug market,
drug economy, ethnography, female roles, gender, heroin, participation, role,
selling, street, trafficking, urban drug market, and women with the assistance of
online bibliographic databases (MEDLINE, Social Sciences Index, psycINFO,
Science Direct, Web of Science, Sociological Abstracts, Sociology: a SAGE
fulltext collection, International Dissertation abstracts and Blackwell Synergy).
This comprehensive search strategy identified a total of 36 studies. Each study was
critically reviewed and notes were taken using a template with questions relating

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to the study population characteristics, data collection and analysis methods, and
key themes or findings. While all of the studies contributed to an understanding
of research in the field, studies were selected for inclusion only if they met the
following criteria:

Generated findings in relation to female participation in the drug

economy. All of the studies explored, to some extent, women’s
participation in the illicit drug economy. While few studies
specifically examined the role of women as drug dealers, most
generated insights into the economic experiences and roles of
women drug users in different drug markets.

Primary data collection used qualitative or ethnographic research

methods. For the purposes of this analysis, studies were included
if they used observational fieldwork and/or in-depth interview
techniques. We sought to further restrict the analysis to studies that
provided evidence of generated themes by using quoted exemplars
from study participants.

Adhering closely to the selection criteria, the original 36 studies were

subsequently reduced to 15 key books and papers. It should be noted that these
studies were all conducted in English speaking countries and largely focused on
heroin and/or cocaine (powder or crack). The studies included here span nearly
three decades and were published between 1981 and 2004. They provide evidence
of identified themes through qualitative data, which, when pooled, generate a rich
evidence base for constructing a composite picture of women’s participation in the
drug economy.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE STUDIES

Each of the 15 studies included in the metasynthesis provided thick descriptions
of female experiences using fieldnotes or narrative data from transcribed interviews.
Interview data has the benefit of documenting perceptions and experiences in
participants’ own words. Observational data add another layer of recorded behavior
in real time, revealing the actions of participants and the ways in which they
interact with other agents in the drug economy. These 15 studies present, through
thematic analysis, conclusions that are specific to the individual sites. However, with
integration and the distilling of common themes, a more general and comprehensive
understanding can be achieved.

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In a pioneering study, Rosenbaum (1981) used in-depth interviews to explore

the experiences of women heroin users in San Francisco (95 participants) and New
York (5 participants). Documenting the drug using careers of these 100 women,
Rosenbaum examined competing roles and charted a progressive “narrowing of
options” among women as their heroin use increased. Adler’s (1985) research strays
from the urban ethnographic tradition of documenting street-level experiences of
drug use and dealing by capturing the experiences of upper level smugglers and
dealers. Although it provides a different picture in relation to lifestyle, this study
reinforces sentiments around the subordinate and often sexualized roles of women
in the drug economy. Examples are provided of six “successful” women dealers.
Eleanor Miller’s (1986) study of 64 female “hustlers” from Milwaukee
conducted in 1979 challenged those who argued that the feminist movement had
resulted in increased offending by women. Miller described female involvement
in the street drug economy as one of the few options available to women of lower
socio-economic status to support themselves. Miller’s research documented the
significance of domestic arrangements in providing entry points for women, most
of whom were African American, while at the same time ensuring they occupied
relatively powerless positions.
In a similar vein to the work of Adler (1985), the participants in Waldorf et al.’s
(1991) qualitative study were drawn from middle to high socio-economic strata of the
San Francisco Bay area. Many of the 26 female dealers interviewed had short-term
financial goals and most were involved in selling through male friends or partners.
Waldorf et al. (1991) documented the significance of social capital and family and
friends in serving to mediate both drug use and drug dealing. Women involved in
this study also reported drawing on their domestic roles by utilizing skills acquired
in managing household budgets to establish themselves as dealers.
In ethnographic research conducted in New York City between 1988 and 1992,
Maher drew on the lives of 211 women to illustrate how the advent of crack cocaine
served to reproduce, rather than rupture, existing race-gender relations (Maher,
1992, 1996, 1997; Maher & Curtis, 1992; Maher & Daly, 1996). Women remained
marginalized with respect to most opportunities for income generation within the
street drug economy and confined to an increasingly harsh economic periphery of
street-based sex work (Maher & Curtis, 1992; Maher, 1996). By examining women
drug users as cultural and economic actors, Maher’s research provided a strong
counter to the notion of the drug economy post-crack as an “equal opportunity
employer” (Maher & Daly, 1996). Similarly, Taylor’s (1993) ethnography of
women heroin injectors in Glasgow described the networks, personal motivations,
and involvements in a complex local economy, juxtaposing the structural barriers
experienced by women with accounts of their pragmatism and resourcefulness.

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Mieczkowski’s (1994) study sought to examine the role of women in drug

distribution and sales in Detroit. Based on interviews with 23 women, Mieczkowski
(1994) reported that women occupied various roles in drug markets dominated by
crack and faced similar challenges to their male dealing counterparts. However, the
role of gender in shaping these experiences was also acknowledged, with women
dealers resorting to gender-based strategies such as having to employ male minders
for protection. A study by Dunlap, Johnson, and Maher (1997) of 39 female crack
dealers recruited through a larger ethnographic project found that while women
participated in a range of roles in the drug economy, they were concentrated at the
lowest levels of the economic hierarchy. Like Miller (1986), this study also found
that many female sellers had been exposed to drug dealing at a young age through
family and kin networks.
What began for Jody Miller (1995) as a qualitative study focused on street-based
sex work among 16 women serving prison sentences in Ohio revealed much about
the nature of crack cocaine markets. Her findings challenged the notion that crack
cocaine markets prompted a redistribution of power between women and men in the
drug economy, but at the same time illustrated the strategies women used to resist
personal and structural oppression, including avoiding pimps so they could retain
their earnings from sex work.
In a unique case study, Dunlap and Johnson (1996) documented the experiences
of Rachel, an African-American dealer who was able to maintain a successful home-
based drug dealing business. This study highlighted the impact of social capital and
family support on individual careers in the informal economy. However, Dunlap
and Johnson also acknowledged that women involved in the drug economy more
commonly occupy the lowest roles, indicating that Rachel’s case was atypical.
Research conducted between 1991 and 1994 by Morgan and Joe (1996) aimed
to explore the roles of women in three North American drug markets with a focus
on dealing activity related to methamphetamine markets. Based on interviews with
141 women they identified several key elements of women’s involvement such as
pride and ethics, control over the dealing process, and the ability to take advantage
of a variety of roles within the economy. As in previous research, women indicated
that they needed to keep their own drug use in control in order to maintain their drug
dealing businesses and that those able to sustain this balance experienced significant
feelings of pride and independence.
Jacobs and Miller (1998) used qualitative methods to explore the impact of
gender on risk management and arrest avoidance strategies in street level drug
markets in St Louis, Missouri. Through in-depth interviews with 25 women they
identified a complex range of strategies employed by women in order to maintain
dealing businesses and to avoid arrest. Of particular significance was the detailed

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exploration of arrest avoidance strategies through “contextual assimilation” or the

construction of identities and behaviors irreconcilable with the image of a drug
dealer. In particular, women used the fact that they were less likely to be suspected
and stopped by police for involvement in drug dealing.
An ethnographic study conducted by Sterk (1999) examined the lives of 149
women crack users who occupied varied levels in an Atlanta drug market. Sterk
identified four specific roles particular to her participants: Queens of the Scene (who
cooked the coke into crack and were engaged in higher level dealing); Hustlers (who
engaged in lower level criminal activity in order to support their habits); Hookers
(whose main “hustle” was prostitution); and Older Struggling Rookies (older women
who had become involved in the scene later in life and who had fewer resources).
Each of these roles was influenced by the social structures and resources women
had available to them, including links with men who dealt drugs, their age, the
control they exerted over their drug use, and their knowledge and experience or
“street smarts.”
Bourgois, Prince, and Moss (2004) focused on young homeless women who
injected drugs in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco. The ethnographic
work, conducted by a female ethnographer (Prince), illustrated the vulnerability
of young women to sexual predation by older male drug users, while at the same
time documenting the roles and strategies young women adopted in attempting to
minimize harm. This study provides a powerful exploration of the gendered nature
of violence and its juxtaposition with romantic love in this setting, confirming the
patriarchal nature of the street drug economy and the ways in which violence is
used to bolster the structures that maintain gender stratification.
While many of the 15 studies included here explicitly acknowledge the
subordinate position of women in the drug economy, Denton’s (2001) in-depth
interview study focuses on successful female dealers in Melbourne, Australia. There
is evidence here too of reliance on men to facilitate entry to dealing networks, as
well as resources provided by family and friends. This study focused primarily
on 16 women who, despite being recruited through the prison system, occupied a
variety of roles within illicit drug markets and reported relative success. The key
characteristics of each study are presented in Table 1.

KEY THEMES
Close readings of the 15 studies identified six key themes that captured the nature
and experience of women’s participation in the illicit drug economy. Many of these
themes were linked to each other and therefore contribute to a broader picture of
the female experience. Table 2 summarizes these distilled themes.

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TABLE 1
STUDY CHARACTERISTICS

THE DRUG ECONOMY IS GENDER-STRATIFIED AND HIERARCHICAL

There was unanimity across the 15 studies regarding the gender-stratified
nature of the drug economy. Despite the fact that these studies were conducted in
different times and places using different approaches, almost all provide evidence
of a hierarchical structure with women occupying peripheral or subordinate roles.
Even in those studies that identified successful women dealers, women tended to
occupy low- to mid-level positions with more powerful positions dominated by men
(Adler, 1985; Waldorf et al., 1991).
This evidence appears to be particularly strong in relation to crack cocaine
markets, which, according to Jacobs and Miller, constitute a “gender-stratified
illicit economy where violence, aggression, and coercion are ubiquitous” (1998,

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TABLE 2
KEY THEMES

p. 562). Within this economy, “Although females are becoming more evident in
crack distribution roles, they remain a minority among crack sellers and usually
perform the lowest roles” (Dunlap & Johnson, 1996, p. 175). Similarly, Maher
(1997) notes that even where women are engaged in street level sales, participation
is often sporadic, and women still earn less overall than their male counterparts and
typically rely on sex work to support their drug use.
It is important to note that the social, economic, and cultural contexts in
which many of these studies were conducted included settings characterized by

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TABLE 2 CONTINUED.

extreme social and economic exclusion, structural violence, and systematic racial
discrimination where drug distribution and sales can be seen as survival strategies.
However, issues of gender, race, and class have been shown to be no less salient
to the complex networks of power relations and systems of social stratification
evident in the formal economy (Goldin, 1990; Moore, 1990; Amott & Matthaei,
1991). And while informal economies have historically served to meet the needs
of marginal groups within the labor force, patterns of informal sector work tend

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to “reinforce, rather than reduce or to reflect, contemporary patterns of inequality”

(Pahl, 1988, p. 249).

WOMEN PRIMARILY ACCESS AND SUSTAIN ROLES IN THE DRUG ECONOMY THROUGH LINKS
WITH MEN
Several studies provided detailed examples of women entering and sustaining
their participation in the drug market through links with men (Adler, 1985; Miller,
1995; Morgan & Joe, 1996; Maher, 1997; Sterk, 1999; Waldorf et al., 1991).
Unlike their male counterparts, women were mostly introduced to dealing through
relationships with sex partners and often assumed responsibility for dealing when a
partner was arrested or came under police scrutiny. Some studies provided extensive
descriptions of women entering the drug market under the perceived protection or
tutelage of men, while others documented how women at higher levels within the
drug economy benefited from links with men who were further up the hierarchy.
This literature suggests that such opportunities arising for women tend to be related
to gaps in the labor market created by the absence or exit of males from drug selling
networks, as distinct from opportunities created by male sponsors proactively
facilitating access by other males (Maher, 1997; Waldorf et al., 1991).
Mieczkowski reported that while women were evident in a variety of roles
within the crack economy and within multiple levels of drug distribution, most
women gained access to these roles through their relationships “… from casual
and instrumental to intense and emotional” (1994, p. 244) with men. The potential
for crack markets to facilitate female access to drug distribution and sales roles
was also explored in the case study documented by Dunlap and Johnson (1996).
Although Rachel’s marriage was brief, she became involved in selling through her
husband, and this relationship and her husband’s male kin network provided her with
a major resource in facilitating her career as a “relatively successful drug dealer”
(Dunlap & Johnson, 1996, p. 183). While the women interviewed by Miller (1986)
also emphasized the initial role of men as sponsors and protectors, over time male
partners often became financial and emotional burdens as well as the perpetrators
of intimate violence. As noted by Bourgois et al. (2004), within the context of street
drug markets where violence is normalized, the pragmatics of income generation
mean that relationships with older men are a survival imperative for many younger
women.
The significance of men as sponsors, protectors, and gatekeepers within drug
markets, particularly at higher levels, may also have served to limit the access of
female researchers to women dealers. Indeed Adler (1985) notes that she would
not have infiltrated the networks in her study without being married (to her male
co-researcher).

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FEMALE ROLES IN THE DRUG ECONOMY HAVE A SEXUALIZED QUALITY

The links between sex and illicit drug use were established long before the sex-
for-crack phenomenon emerged in the 1980s. Rosenbaum (1981) utilized a theme
of narrowing options to explore how sex work provides a last resort for women
who need to support a drug habit. Miller (1986) found that women involved in
street life used their sexuality to secure partnerships and resources. There is also
evidence of sexualized roles among the relatively more economically advantaged
participants in the studies conducted by Adler (1985) and Waldorf et al. (1991) in
the form of “trophy-women” and “dope chicks,” who utilize their appearance and
sexuality to facilitate access to drugs and lifestyle comforts. Even Denton’s (2001)
successful female dealers adopted a subordinate position and relied on their sexuality
in conducting negotiations with male suppliers.
The advent of crack cocaine, however, resulted in a much more overt sexualization
of women drug users in North American drug markets. As Maher and Curtis (1992)
documented, crack cocaine had a major impact on street-level markets in North
America. It increased the level of competition between women, drove prices down,
and popularized sex-for-crack exchanges (Maher, 1997). A discourse of “desperation
and degradation” underpinned by crack’s purported pharmacological properties,
portrayed women crack users as willing to do anything for their next hit (Bourgois
& Dunlap, 1993; Ratner, 1993). This in turn reinforced perceptions of women drug
users as weak and powerless, further sexualizing their options for income generation,
particularly within street drug markets. More recent research suggests that women
drug users continue to occupy sexualized roles in these markets and that many
are dependent on older men to facilitate access to drugs, money, and protection
(Bourgois, Prince, & Moss, 2004).

FAMILY/KINSHIP TIES ARE IMPORTANT RESOURCES FOR WOMEN DEALERS, AND SUCCESSFUL
FEMALE DEALERS APPEAR TO HAVE INCREASED SOCIAL CAPITAL
One of the explanations for gender-segmented labor markets is that women’s
networks are different from men’s (Bradley, 1996) and are typically smaller and
more homogenous, with women having more ties to kin and fewer ties to co-
workers (Renzulli, Aldrich, & Moody, 2000). Illicit drug markets are often related
to family or kinship structures and these networks often provide important access
points for women (Adler, 1985; Dunlap & Johnson, 1996; Morgan & Joe, 1996;
Denton, 2001).
Family/kin can provide women dealers with support, stability, and the guise of
conventionality (Adler, 1985; Denton, 2001; Denton & O’Malley, 1999). As one of
the women in Denton and O’Malley’s study noted, “… the crucial factor in setting up
her drug network was the backup she received from her family: the family provided
a stable shelter and conventional front while she established herself back in the
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drug economy” (1999, p. 517). However at the same time, other studies indicate
that women drug users are often estranged from both their families of origin and
procreation (Maher, 1990; Maher & Daly, 1996) and therefore may not be able to
access this support.
Several studies suggest that success as a dealer may be related to “social capital,”
which enables the individual to maintain a normal identity. In this context, social
capital relates to the social and support networks that enable successful dealing.
Dunlap and Johnson’s (1996) case study illustrates the importance of social capital,
which in this instance included family support and guidance and social connections
to the dealing world from an early age. Other studies described women who were
able to maintain successful dealing businesses as deriving a sense of pride and
independence from their dealing activities, which contributed to their ability to
control their own drug use—an important determinant of success for both male
and female dealers (Rosenbaum, 1981; Taylor, 1993). Successful dealers in Adler’s
(1985) study were those who also possessed material goods such as homes, as
well as social goods such as strong trustworthy networks of friends and dealing
acquaintances. Similarly, Maher (1997) found that women who had access to other
resources such as permanent shelter and regular welfare payments were more likely
to possess the social capital necessary to generate income from drug sales.
The middle class cocaine dealers studied by Waldorf et al. (1991) clearly had
access to more stable social networks than street-level crack dealers described
elsewhere. The social capital generated through these networks may also mean
that people are less likely to resort to violence or intimidation. This structural
characteristic of some drug markets may be an important determinant of women’s
involvement, and its relative absence in the group studied by Waldorf and colleagues
may have made it somewhat easier for women to enter and remain in this particular
market. Denton (2001) identified specific attributes of the women she studied, such
as being selective about their customers and employees that reflect elements of social
capital, and referred to “business acumen” on the part of her participants, which
made their involvement sustainable.

“FEMININE” ATTRIBUTES AND INSTITUTIONAL SEXISM CAN WORK TO THE ADVANTAGE OF

WOMEN
While some researchers have portrayed “feminine” attributes such as physical
vulnerability as incompatible with some aspects of drug dealing, particularly street-
level dealing, the accounts of women in several studies suggest these attributes can
sometimes work to the advantage of women. Several studies have identified women
as being less likely to be visible to and detected/searched by police, which in turn
may provide them with opportunities to sell drugs (Adler, 1985; Dunlap & Johnson,
1996; Jacobs & Miller, 1998; Mieczkowski, 1994; Sterk, 1999; Taylor, 1993).
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Several studies described how women capitalized on gender stereotypes in devising

and implementing risk management strategies such as contextual assimilation,
particularly in street settings. Jacobs and Miller (1998) documented women dealers
going to great lengths to present an image of the routine and everyday, including
using their children in order to normalize their activities and to provide a screen
for their drug dealing. These authors also go on to hypothesize that where women
employ techniques that render them less visible to law enforcement and potential
predation by others, the use of actual violence may be unnecessary (Jacobs & Miller,
1998; Maher, 1997).
Some researchers have also shown how women dealers employed complex
techniques to avoid or diffuse potential violent situations (Mieczkowski, 1994).
Waldorf et al. (1991) described a situation where, in a dealing partnership, one
woman played the role of “cooler” when the heavy handed approach of her male
counterpart appeared to threaten a sale. Similar accounts of women looking after,
and being more attuned to, customer’s needs suggest that some of these feminine
attributes may provide women dealers with a useful skill set (Dunlap & Johnson,
1996).

WOMEN ARE DIVERSIFIERS AND ABLE TO JUGGLE DIFFERENT ROLES BOTH WITHIN THE DRUG
ECONOMY AND IN RELATION TO DEALING AND DOMESTIC RESPONSIBILITIES
One of the key characteristics of successful women dealers identified in several
studies appears to be their capacity to diversify (Denton, 2001; Jacobs & Miller,
1998; Maher, 1997; Mieczkowski, 1994; Morgan & Joe, 1996; Sterk, 1999; ). Studies
have documented women’s capacity to juggle multiple roles, including the care of,
and responsibility for, children and extended family members, as well as taking care
of business (Dunlap & Johnson, 1996; Morgan & Joe, 1996; Sterk, 1999).
Many of these accounts document the resourcefulness of women within the drug
economy, revealing an ability to diversify in order to capitalize on a range of both
formal and informal opportunities for income generation. For example, many of
the women interviewed by Miller (1986) generated income from a range of sources
including financial assistance or “welfare,” low-level employment, sex work, and
drug sales. While gender stratification means that most women are confined to
low level roles within this economy, women are generalists rather than specialists,
engaging in drug sales (when and if the opportunity permits), other crime, and sex
work (Maher, 1997).
In response to the barriers that exclude them from other, relatively more stable and
economically more rewarding roles, women in the drug economy employ strategies
of economic diversification. Rather than placing all their eggs in one basket, women
seek to supplement formal sector income payments with cash or goods derived from
a range of income generating strategies within the informal economy.
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DISCUSSION
The illicit drug economy is a gender-segmented labor market. Within this labor
market, while women are resourceful and resilient, they rarely participate above the
street level. Results from our qualitative metasynthesis suggest that reasons for this
include the gender-stratified and hierarchical nature of the drug economy; the role of
men as sponsors, protectors and gatekeepers; the sexualization of women drug users;
and the sexualization of roles within the drug economy. While the studies reviewed
here suggest that gender clearly mediates and shapes the dealing experience, few
studies have specifically explored the impact of race/ethnicity, and there is a need
for further research. In North American inner cities, where the drug economy often
represents a niche labor market, exchange of information and recruiting typically
takes place through immigrant networks. Indeed research has shown how both gender
and ethnicity “are part of systems of social closure, exclusion, control and each
forms relationships that produce and perpetuate inequalities and social hierarchies”
(Schrover, van der Leun, & Quispel, 2007, p. 530).
Some evidence also suggests that potential employers see both women and
immigrants as workers who are willing, able, or suited to do badly paid or little
valued word (Schrover et al., 2007). Women are often attributed qualities that
render them more suitable for particular types of work, such as care-related work.
Further, according to human capital theory, women, including immigrant women, are
much less likely to be involved in entrepreneurship (Light, 2007). As Hoyman has
suggested, far from providing women with a “halcyon experience—an escape from
the shackles of the wage economy” (1987, p. 77), the informal economy reinforces
the strong division of roles and the inferior status of women. However, little is known
about how gender and ethnicity interact to shape opportunities for both men and
women within particular drug markets and the broader drug economy.
The current study has several methodological limitations. As noted previously,
only studies published in English were reviewed and included, and it is possible
that studies that were not published in English may have reported different findings
with implications for our analysis and conclusions. Our results also necessarily
reflect which women have been studied and in which market settings. Most studies
to date have focused on poor and marginalized women in inner-city drug markets
in North America; relatively few have focused on women dealers and even fewer
have focused on mid- to upper-level female dealers. However, it is important to note
that generalizability in qualitative research is a function of the extensiveness of the
themes and their applicability in other contexts rather than the extent to which a given
sample reflects the underlying population. The fact that the key themes identified
here were consistent across different studies conducted in different settings over a
time frame of more than two decades suggests a high degree of convergent validity

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WOMEN IN THE DRUG ECONOMY

and indicates that attempts to integrate qualitative research findings can generate
a rich and compelling composite. Our methodological approach and stated aim
to identify common themes and points of convergence may also have overlooked
important differences, both between drug markets and within particular markets over
time. While the representation of studies of street-based drug markets in settings
characterized by high levels of deprivation, drug use, and drug-related violence
reflects the extant research literature, features of these settings may have served to
highlight gender differences that may be less overt in other drug markets.
The recent evolution of party (psychostimulant) drug scenes based on social and
friendship networks potentially provides opportunities for female participation in
drug distribution and sales and for further research on women in the drug economy. In
a qualitative study of 83 party drug users in Western Australia, Lenton and Davidson
(1999) found that drugs were rarely purchased at the place of consumption and
that purchases were likely to have been arranged days or weeks in advance in the
privacy of a home environment. The relative privacy and security afforded by these
pre-existing social networks may reduce the need for violence as a form of social
and economic control in this particular market. However, as Pearson and Hobbs
(2004) note, many of these markets are also characterized by gender stratification and
hierarchical structures that work to confine women to low level roles. For example,
Sanders (2005) highlights the role of club security men or doormen as gatekeepers
in party drug distribution and sales and how this role is linked to male physical traits
and the ability to enforce their position through the threat or use of violence.
The results of our qualitative metasynthesis indicate that little has changed since
the first research in this area was conducted during the early 1980s. The data provided
strong evidence of persistent themes across a number of key areas. A longitudinal
perspective on these studies also indicates that, over time, the analytical approaches
used reflect an increasing awareness that gender intersects with culture, race, and
class. The qualitative evidence reviewed here suggests that the illicit drug economy
and, in particular, street-based drug markets, are gender stratified and hierarchical
and that women primarily access and sustain economic roles through their links with
men who act as gatekeepers, sponsors, and protectors. Within these markets, female
roles continue to be sexualized, but some women utilize “feminine” attributes and
institutional sexism to their advantage. Our metasynthesis also found that family
and kinship ties are important resources for women engaged in drug sales and that
successful women dealers appear to have increased access to social capital. Finally,
our results suggest that while women rely on a diverse range of income sources
and juggle different roles both within the drug economy and in relation to dealing
and domestic responsibilities, most women in most drug markets remain confined
to low level and marginal roles.

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MAHER, HUDSON

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Lisa Maher is supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council
(NHMRC) Career Development Award (Population Health), and Susan Hudson is
supported by an NHMRC Postgraduate Scholarship (Project Grant #323212). The
National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research is core-funded by the
Australian Government Department of Health and Aging.

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