ABSTRACT

This concluding chapter summarizes the ways discourses of ‘criminalized’ and ‘employable,’ have juxtaposed two subject positions for reentering women. The incompatibility of these positions is rooted in their extreme characterizations, as well as in the gendered, moral universe which shapes contemporary understandings of gender and employment. Possibilities for disrupting this incompatibility include recognizing that reentering women are in a temporal, geographical, and ontological process of transition, and supporting their efforts to build alternative post-carceral identities (which may or may not prioritize employment). Efforts should also be directed towards responsibilizing political and systemic sources of discrimination and marginalization, and in fostering community and collaboration among women. This chapter ends with some suggestions for further research and with final advice from reentering women.