This article argues that at the turn of the twentieth century British feminists’ expertise on hygiene, sexuality and morality projected an early prototypical form of governance feminism in Mandate Palestine by producing a common language and a governmental apparatus which reflected racialised and orientalist assumptions, and limited indigenous women’s rights through tropes of progress and civilisation. The article analyses women’s contributions to penal reform in Mandatory Palestine, focusing on the regulation of sex work/prostitution, treatment of prisoners and adultery as proposed for the draft Criminal Code for Palestine between 1921 and 1933. It relies on the correspondence between transnational organisations (such as the Association for Moral and Social Hygiene), women’s groups and charities active on gender and women’s rights to reveal how penal reform was discussed nationally and internationally in women’s debates. It offers an analysis of the history of feminist advocacy in criminal justice on the regulation of prostitution and trafficking, adultery and treatment of prisoners, and adultery in mandate international law on Palestine during the interwar period. It contributes to the scholarship reassessing women’s engagements in criminal justice from a postcolonial perspective by highlighting processes of silencing and marginalisation within the geopolitical space of the mandates and the Empire.

本文认为，在 20 世纪之交，英国女权主义者在卫生、性和道德方面的专业知识通过产生一种反映种族化和东方主义假设的共同语言和政府机构，并限制了托管巴勒斯坦地区治理女权主义的早期原型形式。通过进步和文明的比喻来维护土著妇女的权利。文章分析了妇女对强制性巴勒斯坦刑罚改革的贡献，重点关注 1921 年至 1933 年间为巴勒斯坦刑法草案提出的性工作/卖淫、囚犯待遇和通奸的监管。它依赖于跨国组织之间的通信（例如道德和社会卫生协会），积极关注性别和妇女权利的妇女团体和慈善机构揭示了国内和国际妇女辩论中如何讨论刑法改革。它分析了两次世界大战期间在刑事司法中对卖淫和贩运、通奸和囚犯待遇以及通奸在授权国际法中的通奸问题的刑事司法倡导的历史。它通过强调任务和帝国的地缘政治空间内的沉默和边缘化过程，有助于从后殖民的角度重新评估妇女参与刑事司法的学术研究。通奸和囚犯待遇，以及两次世界大战期间关于巴勒斯坦的国际法规定的通奸问题。它通过强调任务和帝国的地缘政治空间内的沉默和边缘化过程，有助于从后殖民的角度重新评估妇女参与刑事司法的学术研究。通奸和囚犯待遇，以及两次世界大战期间关于巴勒斯坦的国际法规定的通奸问题。它通过强调任务和帝国的地缘政治空间内的沉默和边缘化过程，有助于从后殖民的角度重新评估妇女参与刑事司法的学术研究。