Women in Policing Flashcards
History of women in policing (milestones)
1912: First female officers in VPD (were assigned stereotypically feminine jobs and were not equipped or treated the same as male officers); 1956: Fem. officers in VPD granted equal pay; 2018: Female officers comprised 26% of all sworn VPD officers
Overall % of female officers in Canada?
22% (better than the U.S., where women only comprise 12% of officers)
Support for claim that female officers ARE NOT different than male officers?
Pre-1990’s, research found few differences b/t the sexes in law enforcement; theorists argued both sexes influenced by organizational task characteristics than socially-ascribed gender roles; self-selection may artifically create group of officers, regardless of gender, who share many similarities
Support for claim that female officers ARE different than male officers?
Gender socialization = men + women adopting diff. perspectives on similar issues (ex. Gilligan’s theory of morality); differing perspectives on police role, citizens, workplace, and occupational integration/professional development
Worden (1993) study
Compared M+F officers’ attitudes & perceptions using survey data from 1997 PSS (740 cops w/ less than 7 yrs experience across 24 departments); found that M+F officers had similar attitudes regarding their roles, were mildly positive about citizens, complimentary of their colleagues, unenthiasistic about working conditions + supervisors; women reported to be less integrated w/ their jobs
Simpson & Croft (2021) found…
Male officers were perceived as more aggressive than female officers in plainclothes, but there were no significant diffs in perception once in uniform
Guajardo (2016) found…
Fem. officers underrepresented in supervisory + command positions in the NYPD
Schuck (2016) found…
Agencies w/ greater fem. representation differed in characteristics from agencies w/ lesser representation
