When Crime Goes High-Tech, Do Women Get Left Behind?
By: Marcela Ventura
If you have ever come across a show about Narcos, you have probably seen the usual depictions of women. They are often portrayed as drug mules, constantly objectified, or presented as the wife, girlfriend, or mistress of a cartel member. More recently, the accuracy of this portrayal has been questioned, with numerous articles and research studies examining how women are taking on a wider range of roles within cartels – including leadership positions that were once exclusively male.
Because women are not usually associated with violence, their presence in the world of organized crime goes ignored and unquestioned many times. But is that now changing with the rise of technology in the world of cartels? From an increased use of drones and high-tech submarines to cryptocurrency and AI, these developments raise not only transnational security concerns but also questions about who is being trained to operate and maintain these technologies.
Some reports have mentioned that hackers, people with specific expertise/training, and young individuals are being recruited through shady online job postings, social media, and even the dark web. Yet little is known about whether cartels are investing in developing the skills of their members or simply outsourcing expertise. As technology transforms every sector—including the criminal world—it is worth asking whether these groups will continue to hire skilled outsiders or begin cultivating their own technical workforce.
If cartels are not investing in internal skill development, will they start hiring fewer individuals with low-level skills, and what financial impact will this have on low-income communities that often depend on this underground economy? Could this deepen poverty and unemployment, and are governments ready to fill that gap? More importantly, how might this affect women, especially low-income women, whose double vulnerability could worsen their socioeconomic situation and put them at a higher risk for violence?
Conversely, if cartels are investing in skill development, are gender and racial inequalities being reproduced within these new structures? Given that women have been historically objectified and exploited by criminal organizations, are they once again being excluded from emerging opportunities in these illicit economies—while remaining in the most high-risk positions, where they are more likely to be arrested or killed? Such patterns have been observed in the region by previous research, where women in lower-ranking cartel roles often face disproportionate levels of violence and incarceration compared to their male counterparts, even when performing similar tasks. Yet, if women are being offered the same opportunities as men to develop technical skills, could this also incentivize more women to join these criminal organizations—and what repercussions might that have for society as a whole?
These questions are not merely theoretical—they highlight urgent gaps in our understanding of how organized crime evolves alongside technology, and how these shifts can reproduce or even amplify existing gender and social inequalities. As women continue to be both participants in and victims of these illicit economies, it becomes critical to examine how technological advancements are reshaping not only cartel operations but also gender dynamics within them. By raising these questions now, scholars, policymakers, and advocates can begin to bridge this gap in the literature and design interventions that anticipate these changes—ensuring that efforts to address organized crime also promote gender equality and the protection of vulnerable communities.