It depends - most non-violent offences can be dealt with by other means, which can also deprive the woman of her liberty for some of the time, such as combined supervision and community payback orders. Increased jail terms don't deter offending - employment and a legitimate source of income is more effective, but when the woman is mentally ill, substance addicted or personality disordered, neither jail nor community punishments are of any help without attending to the underlying problems.
The British Criminal Justice System has evolved to be as fair as possible (we can all think of examples where it doesn't). 20 years for house-breaking, which is now always called burglary, is not compatible with other sentences for more serious offences against the person. Few women commit burglaries.
The article does illustrate why women are better punished in a way that doesn't separate them from their children - very few children benefit from being separated from their mothers, except for the ones we know would be so much safer being looked after elsewhere because children are their victims.
