Is embezzlement in the air?

We posted a Crosscut Clicker item today about a woman accused of stealing $1.6 million from her Tacoma employer; she was indicted on the same day a former Microsoft manager was charged with stealing over $1 million from Microsoft and Expedia.com. Todd Bishop's blog on the P-I site brought forth this question from "J.P. Patches" pal: "I've noticed that a lot more local women are getting busted for stealing money from their employers nowadays. I wonder why." That got us wondering: is that true? This was, after all, also the day publisher Conrad Black was sentenced to six and a half yearsin prison for embezzlement. A quick check of Google News for the past day brought up almost 3000 stories related to the term. In the past day. But the women vs. men ratio for the crime? It may be one area where women have broken through the glass ceiling. According to a 2003 New York Times article, women started catching up with men in this crime category almost 25 years ago: "(F)rom 1993 to 2002: the number of women arrested on embezzlement charges increased 80.5 percent, actually surpassing the number of men arrested on the same charges, the only crime for which that is true." A 2004 Christian Science Monitor article titled "Do female execs have cleaner hands?" suggested this is an exception among the ethics of women in the workplace: "Evidence suggests a link between women and ethical behavior. But they embezzle more often." The article goes on to note that men, generally in higher-salaried positions, tended to steal more than their lower-paid female counterparts. Guess that'll change with the times, too.