Women in Policing

A detailed Summary of Women in Policing

Women in Policing and the Gender Gap

When I was a little girl I wanted to be a police officer. Little did I know then that there was such a problem with becoming a policewoman. Like me, there are a lot of girls that want to grow up and be in law enforcement for the simple reason that they want to help people and put the "bad people" in jail. They don't realize however, they will often face harassment, intimidation and discrimination.

In the year 2001 there was only 12.7% of women sworn into law enforcement positions in large police agencies with one hundred or more officers. Sadly there is only 7.3% of women that hold top command positions in large police agencies. In small police agencies, which have less than one hundred police officers, women make up 8.1% of the officers. Again, women hold 3.4% of top command positions. In the 2001 Status of Women in Policing Survey it was reported that women make up 46.5% of the whole labor force and dramatically only represent an average of 11.2% of all sworn law enforcement personal. This percentage is increasing very slowly. In 1990 women made up 9% of law enforcement agencies. At this rate of growth it will take several generations for women to achieve equality in law enfor

There are many questions to why more women do not join law enforcement. There is substantial evidence that men and women are both equally capable of fulfilling the job duties that police work entails. Unfortunately, the single largest barrier keeping women from law enforcement is the behavior of male police officers. Many women are even discouraged from applying for police positions. Even if women are able to look past this, there is still a bias when hiring, selecting, and recruiting. The physical entry exam keeps women from qualifying due to the emphasis on the upper body strength, which favors men over women, even though that it has been found that communication skills are more related to the job performance. If women make it past all of these obstacles they will often face harassment. Then, their chance of getting promoted is so small many women get frustrated and give up on their dream. It has been found however, that women use more communication and less physical violence. In fact, "Whether measured by citizen complaints, sustained allegations, or civil liability payouts in police brutality lawsuits, the average woman on patrol is significantly less likely to use excessive force than the average man and as consequence she exposes citizens to less abuse and her department to less civil liability," said Katherine Spillar, Executive Vice President of the Feminist Majority Foundation.#

Ÿ More female officers will improve law enforcement's response to violence against women. Violence against women is a growing problem. Domestic violence calls to the police are the number one call received. Women who are victims of violence will tend to trust a female police officer more than a male officer. This is because they feel they can relate to women and women are generally much more understanding and more empathetic. This is of the most extreme importance because if they do not handle these cases correctly victims are less likely to call again in the future, which could be very dangerous and even life threatening.

Ÿ Finally the last

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Approximate Word count = 1388
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: People