Women In Law Enforcement

WOMEN IN LAW ENFORCEMENT

Background

Humphrey related that before 1910 , United States law enforcement was strictly a man 's job based on the military model (23 . State police officers were generally young , unmarried , physically strong and had military backgrounds . Women were relegated to secretarial or clerical roles , or worked as matrons in women 's prisons . Much of the increased participation of women in law enforcement ran parallel to the social movements in both the United States and Great Britain (Newburn 97 Reformers advocated women 's participation in law enforcement organizations

not only to deal with women prisoners , women victims and juveniles , but also to help change police practices

In 1910 , the reformers ' advocacy proved successful when the first woman was sworn into public law enforcement in the United States with powers of arrest , in the person of Alice Stebbins Wells (Wrobleski and Hess 12 . Women in non-traditional occupations have been the subject of several works in sociology , psychology , business and management . Law enforcement has been the subject of some of these works . Although the movement to bring women into the law enforcement world has some unique factors , it can best be understood as part of the overall struggle for women to gain access to power within a male dominated culture . The taken for granted ethos of masculinity in police cultures is reflected in the fact that early studies on policing only referred to as policemen , as if women were invisible in the organization

Attitudes toward Women Officers

When women entered patrol , their performance was questioned because their gender role was not consistent with the definition of policing as a masculine occupation . It is at this point that the impetus to evaluate women in policing began . Research on attitudes toward women police officers documents persistent patterns of discrimination which continue despite their demonstrated competence (Scarborough and Collins 52 Women officers face additional stress because of this , aside from having to deal with pressures on the job , administrative policies and procedures , the criminal justice system and role conflicts between the job and personal life

The major impediment for women gaining a greater proportion of representation in some of the law enforcement agencies across the country is , as mentioned above , the common perception that policing is a male-oriented profession , requiring physical strength and a display of physical prowess for many of the tasks . Consequently , many women are reluctant to apply , especially when a department has the reputation of being hostile toward women or has a high female officer turnover rate

Present Status

Although there continues to be evidence that in some groups law enforcement embodies a culture dominated by men , there is also clear evidence that law enforcement agencies are committed to increasing the female representation in their ranks . In Canada , for instance , of the 61 ,050 police offices in 2005 , nearly 10 ,600 were female , representing a gain of 17 percent from the previous year (Kazarian , Crichlow and Bradford 6 . This gender balancing of law enforcement is consistent with the positive value...