Women in Law Enforcement

1698 Words4 Pages

In this essay, I will investigate and describe a cultural group in my desired field. I will provide details from an interview with a professional person in my field of interest. Gender inequality is still a big issue in law enforcement. Women make up a small percentage in the world of law enforcement. According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, there are only thirteen percent of women working in law enforcement in the United States and only five percent are African American (Criminal Justice School Info, 2014). The New York City Police Department hired the first female officers in 1845 and they were called “matrons” (Felperin, 2004). Over twenty years of extensive research has shown that female officers possess a unique style of policing in which they rely more on their interpersonal skills rather than physical strength or force to talk a person down from a violent situation (National Center for Women & Policing, 2013).

Women bring unique skills and techniques to policing such as: compassion and understanding during undesirable and traumatic incidents. Although, women do not possess the muscles or physical strength as the male officers, they do have effective invaluable interpersonal skills. Females are viewed as threats by their male peers. Women face prejudice, peer bullying, and sometimes sexual harassment during their career in law enforcement (Criminal Justice School Info, 2014). The male officers believe that women have unfair advantages when it comes to getting promotions or advancements. In actuality, a lot of women in law enforcement are afraid to apply for higher positions due to fear of maltreatment by the male officers. Women who work in law enforcement often feel as if they must “prove themselves” beca...

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...elperin, J. (2004). Women in Law Enforcement: Two steps forward, three steps back. Retrieved May 27, 2014, from http://www.policeone.com/police-recruiting/articles/87017-Women-in-Law-Enforcement-Two-steps-forward-three-steps-back/

National Center for Women & Policing. (2013). Changing the Face of Policing. Retrieved May 27, 2014, from http://womenandpolicing.com/

National Center for Women and Policing. (2003). Hiring and Retaining More Women: The Advantages to Law Enforcement agencies. Retrieved May 28, 2014, from http://womenandpolicing.com/pdf/newadvantagesreport.pdf

Police Foundation. (2014). Policewomen on Patrol. Retrieved May 29, 2014, from http://www.policefoundation.org/content/policewomen-patrol

Woolsey, S. (2014). Challenges for Women in Policing. Retrieved May 27, 2014, from http://www.hendonpub.com/resources/article_archive/results/details?id=1614

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