Career Progression Expectations and Aspirations of Female Police Officers in England and Wales

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 426-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fran Boag-Munroe
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Career Progression ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Police Service ◽  
The Public ◽  
Central Tenet ◽  
Female Police Officers ◽  
Chief Officer ◽  
Female Officers

Abstract The Peelian principle that ‘the police are the public, and the public are the police’ remains a central tenet of the ‘policing by consent’ model of policing. However, the police in England and Wales are currently not gender-representative, most notably at the highest ranks. Using a sample of 21,490 officers in England and Wales between the ranks of Constable and Chief Inspector we addressed two questions to help better understand female officers’ career progression: the extent to which female officers saw hierarchical rank progression, first as realistic and second as desirable. Compared with male officers, and controlling for covariates, female constables were less likely to expect or desire progression to higher ranks, in particular Superintending and Chief Officer ranks. Gender differences in both expectation and aspiration regarding hierarchical rank progression were more limited amongst supervisory ranks. The implications of these findings for achieving a gender-representative police service are discussed.

Empowering Women in Blue Uniforms—Gender and Police in South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shanta Singh ◽  
Sultan Khan
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Police Work ◽  
Police Force ◽  
Police Culture ◽  
The South ◽  
South African Police Service ◽  
Female Police Officers ◽  
South African Police ◽  
Female Officers

Gender in the police force has received scant attention by researchers, although there are complex social dimensions at play in how male and female law enforcement officers relate to each other in the workplace. Given the fact that males predominate in the police force, their female counterparts are often marginalised due to their sexual orientation and certain stereotypes that prevail about their femininity. Male officers perceive female officers as physically weak individuals who cannot go about their duties as this is an area of work deemed more appropriate to men. Based on this perception, female officers are discriminated against in active policing and often confined to administrative duties. This study looks at how female police officers are discriminated against in the global police culture across the globe, the logic of sexism and women’s threat to police work, men’s opposition to female police work, gender representivity in the police force, and the integration and transformation of the South African Police Service to accommodate female police officers. The study highlights that although police officers are discriminated against globally, in the South African context positive steps have been taken to accommodate them through legislative reform.

Seeing and Doing Gender at Work: A Qualitative Analysis of Canadian Male and Female Police Officers

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-109
Author(s):  
Sarah E. Murray
Keyword(s):  
Gender Bias ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Police Culture ◽  
Canadian Province ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Female Police Officers ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Female Officers ◽  
Depth Interviews

This qualitative study examines the ways in which male and female police officers view and enact gender in their workplace. Data were generated from in-depth interviews with 20 active police officers working in a populous Canadian province. Although most male officers deny gender differences and gender bias, female officers describe experiences of workplace sexism and deploy adaptive strategies daily in their workplaces to resist gender inequality. Both men and women describe a masculine-coded ideal police officer and disparage the “old police culture” and “old boy’s club.”

scholarly journals The Future of Initial Police Training: A University Perspective

2009 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 294-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic A. Wood ◽  
Stephen Tong
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Police Training ◽  
Position Paper ◽  
Initial Training ◽  
Police Recruits ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Police Service ◽  
The Status ◽  
University Department

A recurring issue in the initial training of police recruits in England and Wales concerns the status of student police officers. This position paper engages with debates concerning this aspect of initial police training from a university perspective by reflecting on the experiences gained over a three and a half year period of delivering a Student Officer Programme (SOP), a joint collaboration between a university department and a UK police service. As such it should be read as a comment piece that aims primarily to stimulate debate. Although not an empirical research piece, the paper nonetheless engages with the experiences that have been borne out of the collaborative running of the SOP. The paper presents a philosophical analysis of one particular aspect of that experience, namely the tension that arises from the contradictory status of student police officers.

scholarly journals Twenty-three women officers’ experiences of policing in England: The same old story or a different story?

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-37
Author(s):  
Emma Cunningham ◽  
Pauline Ramshaw
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Division Of Labour ◽  
Women Officers ◽  
Women Police Officers ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Feminist Criminology ◽  
Women Police ◽  
A Site ◽  
Female Officers

Our research project was concerned primarily with using a feminist analysis to explore the lived reality of 23 women police officers in England and Wales. We undertook 23 qualitative interviews with our participants and our research straddles four decades of policing practice, which allowed us to explore changes that were seen to have taken place during this period. First, participants discussed their lived reality, which included banter, bullying and harassment for many. Second, and perhaps more surprisingly, at certain times of unrest, riots or threats, some of our participants were provided with opportunities, for example, during the IRA threat, the riot in Toxteth and the miners’ strike. We suggest that examples from our data capture an early disruption of the ‘ideal’ heroic male police officer that Silvestri examines [Silvestri M (2018) Disrupting the ‘heroic’ male within policing: a case of direct entry. Feminist Criminology 13(3): 309–328] whose removal from their normal role during periods of socio-political disorder allowed women officers to leave the gendered division of labour and undertake the heroic police constable role while the men were busy being ‘heroic’ at the source of threat and unrest. We sought to explore changes such as the uniform as a site of protest for some of our officers who challenged an uncomfortable and unfit uniform in the early days, and explained that there were still problems with the kit and design at times. Our findings illustrated that, on the whole, although massive changes had been made, it was a case of the same old story in terms of sexual harassment and banter for female officers and more was required to address these issues, which fits with reviews and studies in both England and Wales and in Australia. Finally, we noted using participants’ words how much many of these women had enjoyed their role within policing in spite of these challenges.

scholarly journals Female police officers in Ireland: challenges experienced in balancing domestic care responsibilities with work commitments and their implications for career advancement

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 35-54
Author(s):  
Maureen O’Hara
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Career Advancement ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Female Police Officers ◽  
Rural Police ◽  
Female Officers ◽  
Domestic Care

This paper resulted from a study which gave voice to female police1 officers who work full-time and try to combine this with their domestic caring responsibilities by focusing on their perceptions of work, their domestic caring responsibilities and their aspirations for career advancement. It was based on ten semi-structured interviews, with officers who work in urban and rural police stations in the North West of Ireland. Results established inequality in the top echelons of the Garda Síochána; through self-exclusion; officers experienced promotional disadvantage as well as disadvantage with regard to how domestic responsibilities were managed. Findings suggest a need for change both in orginanizational and work policies for female police in Ireland.This paper discusses caring responsibilities and the effects of same on female officers. Keywords: female, police, caring, policy, officers.

Puttin’ on the Sting: Women Police Officers' Perspectives on Reverse Prostitution Assignments

2005 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Dodge ◽  
Donna Starr-Gimeno ◽  
Thomas Williams
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Police Department ◽  
Women Police Officers ◽  
Exciting Opportunity ◽  
Female Police Officers ◽  
Women Police ◽  
Scant Attention ◽  
Female Officers

Reverse police prostitution stings, which target men by using female police officers as decoy prostitutes, are becoming a common method in some United States cities for controlling the problem of solicitation for prostitution. The role of policewomen as decoys has received scant attention by scholars, though critics and traditional feminists view the practice as further evidence of the subjection and degradation of women in law enforcement. This article presents participant field observations of how reverse prostitution operations are conducted in Aurora, Colorado Springs, and Denver, Colorado and qualitative interview data from 25 female police officers who discuss their experiences as prostitution decoys. The findings indicate that female officers view the decoy role as an exciting opportunity for undercover work, despite the negative connotations of acting like a whore. According to the officers who work as decoys, it adds excitement and variety and offers potential for other opportunities for advancement within the police department in contrast to the rather mundane duties often associated with patrol.

scholarly journals Retiring from the police service in England and Wales: a multi-dimensional perspective

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Karen Bullock ◽  
Jane Fielding ◽  
Graham Hieke
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Police Service ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
Transition To Retirement ◽  
Organisational Factors ◽  
Individual Role

AbstractThe experiences of police officers who have retired from the police service have rarely comprised the focus of empirical studies in England and Wales. Drawing on the findings of a survey of former police officers, this article examines the circumstances within which officers leave the service and aspects of the transition to retirement. We find that that certain individual, role and organisational factors come together to explain how the transition to retirement is experienced by police officers. We conceptualise police retirement as a multi-dimensional process during which a number of factors may come into play and have different effects depending on the circumstances in which retirement occurs. Findings are considered in light of wider conceptualisations of the process of retirement and implications are discussed.

Gender differences in understanding police perspectives on crowd disorder

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 228-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie E. Dawson ◽  
Garth Davies
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Police Response ◽  
Confirmatory Factor Analyses ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Confirmatory Factor ◽  
Canadian Context ◽  
Female Police Officers ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
Police Perceptions ◽  
Female Officers

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature and dynamics of crowd disorder from the perspective of the police in a Canadian context, as well as to extend this perspective to include the opinions of female police officers. Design/methodology/approach A total of 460 Vancouver police officers participated in this study. Following the 2011 Stanley Cup riot, police officers received mail-based questionnaires focussed on gathering information concerning police perceptions of the crowd and the police response in riot situations. A total of 15 response items were analysed using descriptive approaches and confirmatory factor analyses. Findings The study findings revealed that, in addition to being multidimensional, the police perspective of crowd disorder may be contingent upon certain officer characteristics. Although, the police perspective can generally be categorized by four overarching constructs: dichotomous crowd, homogeneous threat, strict policing and tactical response; it becomes more complex once the officers’ gender is taken into consideration. The results suggest that the male and female police officers may have some differing views about the nature of crowds and the type of police response required to manage disorderly crowd situations. Originality/value In addition to being the first study to analyse police perceptions of crowd disorder in a Canadian context, this research is the first to include the points of view of female officers.

scholarly journals Work-Life Challenges on the Performance of Female Officers in Kenya Police Service, Nakuru County

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 56-74
Author(s):  
Margaret Awino Ong’ale ◽  
Casper Masiga
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Gender Stereotypes ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Life Challenges ◽  
Female Police Officers ◽  
Female Officers

Police officers play an integral role in enhancing security, which is normally a very basic premise if the economy of a given country is to thrive. The effectiveness and efficiency of police work are doing the right thing to assist the citizens who are their customers at all time. If they don’t perform as expected the public can view it with negativity, and term them as either corrupt or unwilling to meet their needs. For a long time, police officers especially female police officers have had numerous challenges that have consistently contributed to their low morale at work thus subsequently having ripple effects on their performance. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of work-life challenges on the performance of female police officers in Kenya. The objectives of this study were; to examine the influence of gender stereotypes on the performance of female police officers in Nakuru county; to determine the influence of work-life balance on the performance of female police officers in Nakuru county; to identify how social injustices influences the performance of female police officers in Nakuru County; and to identify the best strategy to help enhance the performance of female police officers in Nakuru county. The study was guided by radical feminist theory and liberal approach theory. This study also adopted a descriptive survey research design. This study relied on primary data specifically a questionnaire and focus group discussion. A sample of 135 female police officers was drawn through stratified and simple random sampling to respond to the questionnaires. On the other hand, convenience sampling was used to select the female police officers who would participate in the focus group discussion. Descriptive statistics such as mean, percentages and standard deviation were used to analyze quantitative data that was obtained. The data was presented in charts, frequency, and tables. Qualitative data were analyzed according to themes and patterns formed. They were presented in narrative and verbatim quotations forms. This study was expected to contribute to the body of knowledge already existing on challenges facing female police officers and even police officers in general. It was also going to inform the national government on various challenges facing female police officers and how to mitigate them to enhance performance and by extension improving security. The study findings indicated that female officers experienced work-life challenges which included gender stereotypes, work-life balance and social injustices that affected their productivity to some extent. The study concluded that female officers encountered many forms of gender stereotypes at their workplace thus influencing their performance. There was a lot of preference for certain people for promotions or recommendations for promotions that took place at the workplace, a lot of bureaucracy and red tape in the management of police operations and missing certain opportunities for handling certain cases in the force because of their gender. The study also concluded that there was a lack of work-life balance amongst the female police officers as they found it difficult to balance their work and family responsibilities. The study recommends that the government or rather the KPS should come up with policy/policies that will cater for both genders and ensure that there is no favouritism and nepotism in the service as well as adopt practical reforms where possible for female officers to be assigned duties during the day to avoid inconveniences of not being able to attend to family and children.

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