A/HRC/41/33 from a racial minority in the United States of America to be more than twice as likely as women from the majority group to receive a sentence of incarceration for drug-related crimes. Indigenous women in Australia are also notably overrepresented in prisons; they make up only 2.2 per cent of the population of women, but around 34 per cent of women in prison. In Canada, a disproportionate number of indigenous women are to be found in solitary confinement. 28. Negative stereotypes about female ageing mean that elderly women are perceived as dangerous and in need of control in some societies. In certain communities, these women may experience non-judicial confinement and banishment from their homes because of accusations of witchcraft. 19 Superstitions linked to elderly women and witchcraft are common in particular regions, such as Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, and gendered control of power and space heightens the risk of persecution for those who are vulnerable within family power dynamics.20 Due to extreme fear of witch-hunting or reprisal attacks, those labelled as “witches” will be exiled to the margins of their communities and forced to remain confined in “safe” spaces, living in deplorable conditions and experiencing the worst forms of exclusion. Older women with disabilities are also at particular risk of confinement in homes or institutions, owing to prejudices based on both age and disability (see A/HRC/40/54). 29. Owing to patriarchal norms that embody stereotypes about women’s bodies being “impure” (for example, during menstruation) and bringing a “curse”, women may be subjected to seclusion amounting to deprivation of liberty. For example, this has manifested in the practice of cheupadi in Nepal, a punishable act, which involves isolating and confining women during their menstruation period, depriving them of the right to move freely and access basic needs and services. Policing of women’s “moral”, sexual or reproductive behaviour 2. 30. Further to expectations to be submissive and deferential to the commands of men, women are also expected to be morally and sexually “pure”. At the same time, owing to discriminatory social ideologies, they are sometimes seen as morally weak and with a tendency to be “sexually misguided”, warranting constant policing of their moral and sexual behaviour by men. Moreover, owing to gender norms and assumptions, women are mostly valued for their reproductive role and often regulated accordingly. Those stereotypes are transcribed into the law or sanctioned by religious and social norms in several States and, in practice, women who fail to conform to those expectations may be subject to harsh judgments and face confinement aimed at punishing, regulating or changing their behaviour. 31. Typically, patriarchal ideas of women’s “morality” and associated expectations concerning their public and private behaviour have detrimental effects for women in the justice system, as they may be subjected to moral judgments founded more on social expectations than on the crimes they may have committed. Studies show that girls are far more likely than boys to be arrested for “status offences” (such as truancy or running away from home), based on social behaviour rather than actual illegal activity, and are more likely to be sentenced to incarceration for such offences. 21 The expectation that women should be “better behaved” than men may also lead to heavier penalties for women than men for the same crimes. Judicial gender bias often subjects women to disproportionate sentencing for non-conformity with gender stereotypes. In some cases, the penalties may even surpass aggravated imprisonment and attract the death penalty. 19 20 21 8 See, for example, Marie-Antoinette Sossou and Joseph A. Yogtiba “Abuse, neglect, and violence against elderly women in Ghana: implications for social justice and human rights”, Journal of Elder Abuse and Neglect, vol. 27, Nos. 4–5 (2015). Shelagh Roxburgh. “Witchcraft and space: a theoretical analysis of unseen political spaces in Ghana and Cameroon.” Canadian Journal of African Studies/Revue canadienne des études africaines, vol. 51, No. 1 (2017). See Meda Chesney-Lind and Randall G. Shelden, Girls, Delinquency and Juvenile Justice.