Working Through Desistance: Employment in Women’s Identity and Relational Desistance

Abstract Desistance and re-entry literature has traditionally explored particular types of women’s relationships and social roles (such as maternal identities and familial relationships), while neglecting the potential for employment and work-related roles to support change. Through interviews with 15 (predominantly Indigenous) women with histories of imprisonment in Aotearoa New Zealand, this article contributes to feminist literature on women’s desistance by exploring the role of employment in their change. The article explores how women (particularly Indigenous women) face significant barriers to employment, based on multiple sites of inequality. It also explores how employment (and employers) can support women’s identity and relational desistance. It is argued that policy and practice should recognize and attempt to leverage the beneficial effects of employment on women’s desistance.