Negotiating Gender and Police Culture: Exploring the Barriers to Retention and Progression of Female Police Officers in New Zealand

<p>Women officers represent a minority within the New Zealand Police (Police) particularly within the senior ranks. In recent years, Police have made concerted efforts to increase women’s representation as well as improve the working environment. However, recent reviews of the 2007 Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct have reported that women continue to face barriers to full integration and furthermore, that the changes to the police culture have reached a plateau. New Zealand and international research have established that police culture continues to pose a barrier to women’s full acceptance within policing. This culture is characterised by predominantly white, heterosexual males, who form what has been described as a “cult of masculinity”. Therefore, women find they must adopt the culture in order to “fit in” and be accepted as “one of the boys”. Adopting a qualitative framework, this research involved semi-structured face-to-face interviews with sworn female police officers. Exploring female police officers’ experiences identified five pertinent barriers to women’s retention and progression. These were the emphasis on physical skills and excitement, the police camaraderie and the cult of masculinity, sexual harassment within the workplace, women’s minority status, and balancing motherhood with policing. It was found that the persistence of these barriers came back to core features of police culture. Due to the strong allegiance to the positive aspects of the police culture, such as the camaraderie, negative features such as sexual banter and harassment were subsumed within the wider culture. Negative features were tolerated and accepted as part and parcel of working in the Police. Women’s narratives demonstrated that they adhered to core police culture features and thus contributed to the sustenance of the culture. Furthermore, how women articulated their experiences and perceptions of barriers was complex and nuanced. Many held the belief that there were no longer any barriers for women in the Police, yet such positive views were in contradiction with their own experiences. The tension between “perceptions” and “reality” creates a situation where the Police currently sit at a crossroads between the “old” culture and the new rhetoric of “change”.</p>

Negotiating Gender and Police Culture: Exploring the Barriers to Retention and Progression of Female Police Officers in New Zealand

<p>Women officers represent a minority within the New Zealand Police (Police) particularly within the senior ranks. In recent years, Police have made concerted efforts to increase women’s representation as well as improve the working environment. However, recent reviews of the 2007 Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct have reported that women continue to face barriers to full integration and furthermore, that the changes to the police culture have reached a plateau. New Zealand and international research have established that police culture continues to pose a barrier to women’s full acceptance within policing. This culture is characterised by predominantly white, heterosexual males, who form what has been described as a “cult of masculinity”. Therefore, women find they must adopt the culture in order to “fit in” and be accepted as “one of the boys”. Adopting a qualitative framework, this research involved semi-structured face-to-face interviews with sworn female police officers. Exploring female police officers’ experiences identified five pertinent barriers to women’s retention and progression. These were the emphasis on physical skills and excitement, the police camaraderie and the cult of masculinity, sexual harassment within the workplace, women’s minority status, and balancing motherhood with policing. It was found that the persistence of these barriers came back to core features of police culture. Due to the strong allegiance to the positive aspects of the police culture, such as the camaraderie, negative features such as sexual banter and harassment were subsumed within the wider culture. Negative features were tolerated and accepted as part and parcel of working in the Police. Women’s narratives demonstrated that they adhered to core police culture features and thus contributed to the sustenance of the culture. Furthermore, how women articulated their experiences and perceptions of barriers was complex and nuanced. Many held the belief that there were no longer any barriers for women in the Police, yet such positive views were in contradiction with their own experiences. The tension between “perceptions” and “reality” creates a situation where the Police currently sit at a crossroads between the “old” culture and the new rhetoric of “change”.</p>

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

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.

The effect of underwired and sports bras on breast shape, key anthropometric dimensions, and body armour comfort

This study follows on previous research which investigated the comfort and types of bras worn by UK female police officers when wearing body armour and performing typical activities. This controlled study involved a cohort of 31 female police officers and investigated three main areas. Firstly the effect of professional bra fitting on size and comfort, secondly the effect of wearing an underwired bra or a sports bra on comfort and ability to perform certain actions, and thirdly the effect of an underwired bra and sports bra on key anthropometric data in relation to the fitting of body armour.

Effect of Self-reported Height on Occupational Rank Among Police Officers: Especially for Women it Pays to be Tall

This study among 725 male and 247 female police officers from The Netherlands examined the association between self-reported height and occupational rank from the perspective of sexual selection. Male and female police officers were taller than the average population. A larger percentage of women than of men was found in the lowest ranks, but in the leadership positions, there was a similar percentage of women as of men. Overall, but especially among women, height was linearly associated with occupational rank: the taller one was, the higher one’s rank. These effects were independent of educational level and age. The implications for evolutionary theorizing from the perspective of sexual selection on the effect of tallness on status and dominance among women are discussed.

THE FEATURES OF THE «I-CONCEPT» OF RUSSIAN FEMALE POLICE OFFICERS

The article presents data from an empirical study of the features of the “I-concept” of Russian female police officers. An increasing number of women realise themselves in professions traditionally seen as those suitable principally for men, including working in the police. The authors consider the socio-psychological issue of transformation of gender-role behavior and related stereotypes, which contributes to a blurring of the boundaries between male and female in the structure of the psyche of the person, and naturally causes a transformation of the «I-concept» of female police officers. Differences in the cognitive component of the “I-concept” of female police officers and civil women were revealed: women working outside military forces are more likely to think of themselves in an aesthetic and family context, while female police officers imagine themselves in a social and professional context, which is more typical for the “I-concept” of male type. The proportion of female police officers using male-type behavior and strategies to identify themselves “I am a police officer” is significantly larger than the proportion of civilian women who prefer masculine patterns of behavior when identifying with their organization. The cognitive component of the “I-concept” of female police officers is characterized by the pronounced ambivalence in the family and socio-professional spheres. Given the priority of the family sphere in the “I-concept”, professional activity and its effectiveness become a secondary and tertiary concern, or the priority of the police service in the “I-concept” of female police officers assigns only the second and third role to the family sphere. Statistically significant differences were revealed in the structure of self-esteem, self-sympathy and self-acceptance of women of two groups, namely: female police officers are more self-confident, their self-respect is based on faith in themselves and their strength, independence, their reliance on their abilities, skills and capacities manifested against a backdrop of unstable auto-sympathy and a high need for social approval, prevailing focusing on social norms and success criteria. In contrast, civilian women have higher self-esteem, an active life position concerning themselves and society, trust and a positive attitude towards themselves, and awareness of their creative potential for a productive life and activity.

Women Police in Interwar Poland in the Light of Reports from Inspections Carried out by Stanisława Paleolog

Although the genesis of women police dates back to 1925, not much information on the activities of this formation has been preserved until today. It is known that it was established on the initiative of the Polish Committee for the Fight Against Trafficking in Women and Children and its main goal was to fight prostitution, to prevent women from being taken out of the country and exploited for work as prostitutes, and later also to take care of children. The formation was supervised by lt. Stanisława Filipina Paleolog. Her duties included controlling female police officers in terms of their task performance, as well as taking care of new candidates. In the article, on the basis of archival documents, the author analyses control reports and protocols drawn up during that period, on the basis of which it is possible to reconstruct, at least partially, the history of Polish female police officers in the late 1930s.

Use of employee assistance programs to manage stress in policing: the effects of perceived adequacy of assistance and opportunity for promotion

PurposeThis study investigates the relationship between police officer's willingness to use Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and their perceptions about stress and help-seeking in policing, considering the effect of gender and ethnicity in this association.Design/methodology/approachA survey of 431 Illinois police officers is used to measure officer's perceptions about help-seeking and organizational stressors. The conditional PROCESS modeling (Hayes, 2012) was employed to analyze the hypothesized mediation model. The ANOVA test was used to determent the effect of gender and ethnicity on organizational stressors in policing.FindingsFindings suggest police officer's willingness to use EAP is shaped by the perceived negative effect of stress on promotion through the mediator, confidence in their departments to receive adequate assistance, with noticeable gender and ethnic differences. The analysis demonstrated that female police officers feel stressed because of unfair promotional opportunities and poor relationships with supervisors. Female police officers are less willing to apply for the EAP services to mitigate stress than male police officers. The findings reveal that ethnicity is a significant predictor of the police officers' willingness to apply for EAP services to mitigate stress.Research limitations/implicationsThe current study is limited by its focus on only one police department located in the Illinois, USA. This may limit the generalizability of the results. The cross-sectional nature of data used to draw conclusions and variation in departments' characteristics and compositions could influence results.Practical implicationsThe research has practical implications for those who are interested to understand organizational stressors and perceptions on help-seeking in policing. This study provides suggestions for police administrators to make effort in creating more sensitive working environment to reduce stressors for female police officers and representatives of ethnic groups.Originality/valueThe research unveils the significance of officer's confidence in their departments in modifying their willingness to use EAP, revealing the effect of organizational stressors on confidence. The study adds empirical evidence to existing research on impact of gender and ethnicity on their willingness to use EAP.