Female Law Enforcement Officers in the United States - Research Paper Example

Discriminatory treatment of women in the United States employed as law enforcement officers Introduction The United States police regulations and policies require the recruitment of law enforcement officers without gender discrimination. However, women law enforcers have been criticized and discriminated in the line of duty despite their struggle and role in realizing that the society is free from any form of crime. In contrast to social work that women used to do in the past, they have changed in reliance to the law point and have been absorbed as police officers. The only withstanding is the kind of criticism that they experience in one way or another. For instance, inappropriate policy on pregnancy and childcare issues where women officers should be undergoing paid leave for a specified duration. More to this, is the issue of duty allocation because it is natural women should be given light duties as compared to their male counterparts. Hypothesis statement: more female law enforcers in the United States are discriminated as compared to their male counterparts. Research questions guiding the study 1. What factors contribute to discrimination of women in law enforcement in the United States? 2. What obstacles do women face during the recruitment career as law enforcers in the United States? 3. What are the perceptions of men toward women joining law enforcement as a career? 4. Is there any evidence sexual harassment discrimination towards women seeking to be law enforcers 5. What are the factors limiting development opportunities for women who are who peruse careers as law enforcement agencies?(obstacles) Literature review Factors contributing to discrimination of women in law Understanding the role of police would definitely demand a huge sense of personality in ensuring safety of the society. In the past, the duty of law enforcement was dominated by male gender but the number of women has been on gradual increase. Given that, they demonstrate the potentials in performing almost similar roles as their male counterparts. According to Peoples & Bailey (2012), culture is a very complex understanding within the society; it constitutes knowledge, belief, norms and any other feeling that would make an individual feel as a member of a specific society. Police force however, has a unique culture of an administrative system. Such an organization is popularly know to have a distinct culture with a controlled its own norms and lifestyle. Factors that have led to the development if this question is because law enforcement duties are often associated by very dangerous conditions of which maybe otherwise be considered very risky to be performed by women (Lindgren et al, 2011). Discrimination in the recruitment process The theory of discrimination of female law enforces in the recruitment process has been largely explained in the employment and discrimination act of 2008 (Blanpain et al, 2008). In accordance to this act, nobody should be discriminated on gender, race, color or any form of stereotype that is avoidable. Despite the existence of this act, discrimination is still propagated by senior personnel and the supervisors within the police force. In California state for instance, female law enforces have joined up together to sensitize members within the police force against harassment and intimidation practiced by men against them. Other research have also pointed out that quite a good number of female law enforces have ditched this profession due to experience of injustice and intimidation especially in line with appraisal and promotions. From numerous published responses and scholarly articles, there are positive evidences that most female law enforces experiences intimidation or understand the presence of discrimination from their fellow colleagues. Even though women populations have risen in law enforcement profession, their presence is still treated by ill motive in this male infested field (Conser et al, 2013). To achieve the exact result of the numbers of female law enforces who get discriminated during the recruitment process; special crime unit was identified for an analysis in the state of California where the total employees were estimated to be around 10,000 police officers. Out of the estimated numbers, 80% of the law enforcers were found to be male in contrast to 20% female law enforcers. The demographic distribution from the special crime unit branch indicated that 75 % of the males are holding higher ranking positions as compared to the female counterparts despite the fact that quite a good number of the female law enforcers have possessed the right qualifications. Similarly, there were 40% of the law enforces from both genders were approximated to have a mean ager of 22, the income of the policemen were 15% higher than female in the same job group with a perception that they handle more sophisticated duties than their colleagues. Finally, the research noted that out of every 100 law enforcers recruited to this department every year, only 20 females are chosen to have passed the validity test with an assumption that their domestic needs are more demanding in contrast to policemen who can be deployed into any environment under any condition. Negative perception of men toward women joining law enforcement career According to Jones (2012), most men are opposed to the women policing under an assumption that women are susceptible to the disruption of labor balance, they see women as a subject of a weaker security organ who are mostly known to lack the natural power to fight crime as compared to what men does. In most occasion police, some officers make speeches that indicate high level of disloyalty towards women involvement in the security organs. In some security organs, it is noted that, male law enforces who wants to be disassociated by female in same assignment goes to the extreme of not having conversation with them and often create a sense e of disparity until the course of duty is over. More to this, some colleagues often make discriminatory remarks such as ridicule or use of vulgar language simply to indicate how they are less concerned towards women. Several researches have also given evidence how the training process of female law enforces are often milled by excessive criticism concerning their dress code. This creates a leeway to ridicule and mockery from their male colleagues who sees them as sex objects without enough effort to fight crime (FitzGerald et al, 2013). Stereotypes and obstructions Female law enforces are faced by numerous obstructions during the recruitment process or after joining the force. The cultural aspects and norms of an organization generate most of these obstructions. However, obstruction it steered by egocentrism and the individuals occupation.Other than just ordinary problems that the female law enforcers meet, they are face numerous obstacles such as sexual harassment, defilement, and all criticism that are advanced by men who sees themselves as superior as compared to the female counterparts. In law enforcement agencies, female gender is quite susceptible to harassment from men because of their low numbers compared to the number of men who are often greater in number. Most of the scholarly researches indicate that the biggest of percentage of barriers that female law enforcers face are instigated by male jovinists who feel it is an organizational custom to disrespect female law enforcers mostly during the recruiting process (More, 2008). Evidence sexual harassment discrimination towards women law enforcers Based on equitable employment act of the United States, sexual harassment constitutes any conduct that indicates sexual favorers to secure an employment opportunity. If such conducts amounts to interfere with an individual peace of mind or creates unpleasant working environment then it is classified as an assault (Paludi & Denmark, 2010). For a long time, several complains have been raised by women about being harassed sexually and this make law enforcement agency to be of no exception (Paludi & Denmark, 2010).Despite the fact that unite states is faced with an influx of women population who are joining to help in the maintenance of law and order, so do the increase in reports about sexual molestation within this profession. This is because such kinds of action are not supposed to be tolerated in working environment. Besides, female law enforces are harassed by their senior through commands and rule of law and they are forced to comply simply because of fear that they might lose those opportunities. For some reasons, police officers do feel female law enforces should be blamed for sexual assault because of their dress code even if they are never provocative. There is a stereotype that women should be ready to face different kinds of harassment including sexual assault (Paludi & Denmark, 2010). Methodology Due to the level of confidentiality expected in unraveling the truth about sexual harassment, the use of questionnaire was identified as the best for this case. Three police stations were identified in the state of Arizona and sets of questionnaires were provided at random to every group of 50 police officers without putting into consideration their gender. Each set of questionnaire contained six multiple questions with additional writing space where alternative comments could be written. The respondents were allocated duration of 7 hours and the result returned to the researcher for tabulation and further analysis. Results This research was meant to determine men’s attitudes towards female law enforces in the United States. In order to get the accurate results variable such as gender, age and ranking levels were used to examine the perception of the law enforces towards female police officers. The findings were derived from the results given by the police officers from both Arizona and California. However, for confidential reasons, only the demographics have been made available. From this result it was noted that 48% did not want to disclose their gender despite having admitted presence of discrimination against female law enforcers. Based on the ranks, supervisors were found to harass female law enforces most; this is due to the perception that they are their immediate bosses. It was also noted that, allot of harassment takes place during the initial ages of joining the force as indicated by 17% as slightly increase after the recruits have become familiarized with the force (Siegel, 2010). From the results, only (15%) of the respondent became neutral that they would prefer male officer as a partner in contrast to female counterparts. While (20%) agreed, (50%) disagreed. The P- value for this statement was found to be 0.22. It was also discovered that only (48%) agreed that there is comfort in working with officer of the same gender while (25%) of the population felt that both genders can be mixed up together to enhance comfort on duty. The P-value for this case was found to be .05. finally over (60%) of the respondents believed that female-coworkers do not have the capacity tame crime as compared to the male counterparts while (10%) gave neutral answers, ( 40%) disagreed (Siegel, 2010). Discussion and conclusion From the past illustration of negativity publicity of women, joining the forces might have been the main reason that deters women from joining the law enforcement profession. However, after this research, there is adequate evidence that involves more that what the women face in joining this profession. Women have faced several problems in this male dominated profession especially during the recruitment process. More to this, male police officers perceive themselves to be more strong and powerful in crime handling activities as compared to their female colleagues. However, the contrary has shown that women can perform equally to their male counterparts the same type of training in taming of crime. Therefore, the capability of the officers in performing their duties should not be brought to the discussions especially in relation to gender (More, 2008). From this research, age has also been highlighted as one of the aspects that are being used to enhance discrimination and harassment of female gender. The gender aspect in this case is a clear indication just how male counterparts still view women as weak organs who are insufficient of strength in the society (More, 2008). References: Blanpain, R et al. (2008). New developments in employment discrimination law. Austin: Wolters Kluwer Law & Business; Alphen aan den Rijn; Kluwer Law International. Conser, J., Paynich, R and Gingerich, T. (2013). Law enforcement in the United States. Burlington, Mass. : Jones & Bartlett Learning. FitzGerald, M et al. (2013). Policing for London. New York: Routledge. Jones, B. (2012). Women who opt out: the debate over working mothers and work-family balance. New York: New York University Press. Lindgren, J et al. (2011).The law of sex discrimination. Boston, MA : Wadsworth. More, H. (2008). Current issues in American law enforcement: controversies and solutions. Springfield, Ill. : Charles C. Thomas. Paludi, M & Denmark, F.(2010). Victims of sexual assault and abuse: resources and responses for individuals and families. Santa Barbara, Calif. : Praeger. Peoples, J & Bailey, G. (2012). Humanity: an introduction to cultural anthropology. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. Siegel, L. (2010). Introduction to criminal justice. Belmont, CA : Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. Siegel, L. (2010). Introduction to criminal justice. Belmont, CA : Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. Read More