1 Women in Policing In the world of policing, women, especially the minority officers, face many obstacles and roadblocks in their profession and service delivery. On paper, law enforcement is a career of equal opportunity. Police departments throughout the country are required to hire and treat their staff without regard to gender or race. Nonetheless, real-life statistics show quite the opposite. Many believe that this is because of some serious challenges and obstacles placed in the way of female officers. The issues facing women in policing primarily revolve around discrimination as well as job promotions and advancements. Women in law enforcement have for many years felt the impact of being in a profession dominated by the males. Women in policing have continued to experience discrimination and remain a marginalized, unacceptable minority despite the existence of laws prohibiting discrimination. The belief that women cannot perform police work has resulted in a strong resistance to gender integration. According to literature, male officers are more concerned about their well-being and having a female partner can significantly expose them to danger in the event that a physical confrontation arises (Deans, 2019). Given that women are believed to embody such characteristics as being physically non-intimidating, submissive, and nurturing, male officers are not willing to accept women because they believe women will place them at a disadvantage in the field.
2 Apart from being resisted by their coworkers, women in law enforcement face a glass ceiling when it comes to issues to do with promotions and advancement. Literature points out that lack of sworn female officers undermine a female officer’s ability to advance into higher law enforcement ranks (Deans, 2019). Furthermore, the inability of the female officers to climb the proverbial administrative ladder can also be heavily attributed to gender bias and discrimination. The advent of community policing has resulted in the expansion of opportunities for women within this male dominated profession. Nonetheless, despite showing their aptitude in carrying out policing tasks, female officers have continuously been discriminated against and underutilized and forced to only do work associated with crime prevention, public relations, and victim assistance duties, which are perceived as “women work.” The reinforcement of sex-role typecasting in the workplace has become a serious issue in policing that acts as a significant barrier to promotion (Deans, 2019). The prejudicial attitude in which females are defined by their sexual and procreative labor means that women are just sexual objects and primarily mothers. The view that women and men are inherently better suited to specific occupations is an obstacle that female officers have been fighting to address (Deans, 2019). Female officers who dare challenge the hypermasculine roles that have been given to them in the workplace risk being isolated and even harassed. Other also hold that women officers are victims of tokenism, leading to entrapment, stereotyping, and social isolation. Role entrapment in which female officers are limited to gender-appropriate roles by male officers is the most significant issue in the lack of female officer’s promotion. Despite being subjected to significant barriers in their attempt to assimilate in the maledominated profession, the increasing number of women in policing offers an opportunity for women to redefine the way police do justice as well as their role and culture in this profession.
3 Women in policing should continue championing for equality in the workplace in order for them to make strides in achieving higher ranks and create better opportunities for the future generation of female officers.
4 Reference Deans, C. (2019). Gender Inequality: The Struggle Female Police Officers Face in the Masculine Culture of Policing. Footnotes, 8. Retrieved from https://journal.lib.uoguelph.ca/index.php/footnotes/article/view/5278