Feminist scholars are split as to how they view the sentencing gap, and in fact some view the judicial protection of women as stemming from patriarchal ideas about traditional gender roles and hence see the sentencing disparity as reaffirming mens dominance over women. As MacKinnon writes
ok this is why I don't take feminists seriously. Men getting 60% longer sentences than women for the same crime apparently "reaffirms mens dominance over women". First of all, who is stupid enough to establish a hierarchal system which lands the 'dominant class' behind bars?
Secondly:
the reason for the sentencing gap is that women defendants before sentencing courts are often presented and views as nurturers, dependants and victims of circumstance and hence were seen as less dangerous and blameworthy making punitive sanction less appropriate, where as male offenders were seen as bad and disruptive
You can really twist any stereotype to suit your agenda.
The stereotypes of blacks being 'bad and disruptive' would be evidence of them being victims of oppression by whites.
If you change the analogy to men and women, where men are 'bad and disruptive' it affirms how men are oppressors establishing their dominance over women.
Truth is, there is nothing objectively better about being 'bad and disruptive' than being 'nurturing and victimised'. If you wish to establish a social collectivist worldview where one class is the oppressor and the other oppressed, then of course, you will find one to be dominant over another.
Other scholars argue there are differences between social positioning of men and women that make sentencing disparities warranted - Poverty, victimisation and dependency are more likely to affect women's lives than mens.
As I pointed about, again from the first article I linked, prisons are harsher for women than they are for men. There are less education, vocational and recreational programs in womens prisons, women receive fewer visits and are often incarcerated in prison long distances away from family and friends, histories of abuse make prison worse.
Sentencing isn't just about retribution. The other three purposes of punishment - incapacitation, deterrence and rehabilitation (the most important purpose) have nothing to do with those factors.
As I've said before, lack of entertainment in prison is barely even a concern. In the most brutal male prisons, your safety is. Frankly, the number of criminals in male prisons (per capita) for violent crime far exceeds that of female prisons. We both know that men are also physically stronger, more violent and less empathetic than women, so there is no point in saying that male prisons are better than female prisons. That's just not true.
You say that like women, people of color, and LGBT people are actually on even ground now despite the barest of measures being put forth.
My point is simply if you discriminate against a person for being white, that's racism. (Pretty much the whole point of this thread)