Advocacy groups say that attacks by women on women are on the rise sparked by the social problems Bermuda is facing.

Sheelagh Cooper, of the Coalition for the Protection of Children, and Marsha Dismont, of the Family Centre, spoke out in the wake of several high-profile cases in recent months of women launching vicious attacks on other women (see panel).

Although Police statistics on violent crime do not appear to show an increase in female perpetrators, both women believe the problem is indeed on the rise.

Mrs. Cooper said: "This type of violence certainly is increasing. It's worrying, but not that surprising in my view, because these girls grow up in the same homes as the [violent] boys are growing up in and they are witnesses to the violence in the community the same way the boys are. Although, historically, women have been less likely to engage in violent behaviour, there's no reason why they wouldn't and couldn't if they see it all around.

"In this particular case, it's just anger completely out of control. Then you ask the question do they not have the skills to manage their anger or is it more a level of extreme stress that makes their anger more difficult to manage?

"I see that in the community I work in. The level of stress in the community is becoming almost intolerable although that's not to excuse the behaviour."–Among the causes of such stress, she said, are economic pressures that are causing families to live in close proximity in small apartments and work multiple jobs to make ends meet.

While much emphasis has been placed on the plight of young black males, Mrs. Cooper feels the plight of young women is being overlooked especially the fact that they are getting involved with troublemaking men and in the gang lifestyle themselves. "If you look at the violence of the young males, these males have girlfriends and baby mommas who feel he's wonderful. The question is, what's going on? What is it about the macho and violent personality traits that is attracting these girls?" she asked. "My guess is maybe that's the role model they have from their father. They are equating love with macho behaviour, and as long as that continues we are in deeper trouble than we realise.

"Look at some of the parenting that goes on. There's no role model or anything but abusive and angry behaviour."

Mrs. Cooper believes young children are not being taught empathy at a young age, meaning they don't care when they hurt someone else. "You see in the faces of these young people that they are not concerned about the consequences of their actions," she observed.

The Coalition is trying to address the issue through expanding a peer mediation programme it runs in seven of the Island's schools at primary, middle and senior levels.

"We teach students as young as nine years old how to be mediators how to facilitate a dispute resolution process among the other students. It enables them to address conflict much more positively and give them verbal skills so they don't resort to physical means of getting what they want," she explained.

It's hoped the programme will expand to three more schools this September.

Ms Dismont is equally concerned about the situation. "It's one of the ugliest things I think you can see, when females are attacking females," she said.

She agrees with Mrs. Cooper that social problems are to blame. "The unfortunate pain that many young people are feeling will come out in different ways. Historically we've tended to see acting out by boys who are more physical. They are more accustomed to that way of expression. But females will eventually act out when it gets to a certain degree, so I'm not surprised, because the level of difficulty and pain for some females that's occurring here in Bermuda is bringing all of this out. It certainly tells us a lot about what's going on in the community when we see females acting in this way as society has traditionally protected females from this sort of thing and said 'you don't do that'," she said.

Ms Dismont backed plans for the Coalition to expand its peer mediation programme, and stressed the importance of other youth programmes such as Big Brothers, Big Sisters and YouthNet. "These are places where people can go to get a healthy sense of values," she said. "Unfortunately parents aren't necessarily in the home training young people with values. The second piece of it is we need a tremendous amount of parenting programmes. Parents need to pay attention to their children. People need to feel loved and have a sense of self-esteem and belonging."

A Police spokesman said statistics do not support the theory that violence committed by females is on the rise.

"In regards to robbery, there have been 381 robberies in Bermuda between January 1, 2008 and August 9, 2010. Of these, females have been identified as the only, or as one of many, suspects in 12 robberies or three percent, from what the victim tells us," he said.

Five of those robberies occurred in 2008, eight in 2009 and four so far this year.

"No trend appears to support the hypothesis that women are committing more violent crime, with 315 of the 381 robberies involving one or two males as the suspect. The rest were various numbers of male suspects," said the spokesman.

"With reference to recent events, females have been involved with gang members and subsequent gang violence. However, I am unaware of any female being directly involved in the discharge of a firearm in the last 15 months, which has led to 43 persons being shot, 11 of which were fatalities."