Women in Policing Essay Example

Women in Policing Essay Example Women in Policing Essay Women in Policing Essay This research originates with a question or problem: Women police officers experience disparate treatment. The research will address and identify the social causes and effects of how the occurrence of disparate treatment of women officers correlates with discrimination, sexual harassment, advancement limits and retention problems. The goal of this research Is articulated as: It Is a goal of society for law enforcement agencies to represent the communities they serve. In order to achieve this goal, it is important for law enforcement agencies to identify and address the adverse affects of disparate treatment of women in law enforcement. Research on the problem of aspirate treatment of women officers in law enforcement follows a specific plan. The research begins with problem formation and a topic outline. The research design is explained in the introduction thesis and the outline defines the research question. The research divides the problem into sub-problems. A cause and effect analysis was chosen to Identify the social causes and effects of how the occurrence of disparate treatment of women officers correlates with the subtopics of discrimination, sexual harassment, advancement limits and retention problems. Research objectives were guided by the cause and effect analysis of the problem by utilizing the analysis to formulate research question and hypothesis. The research objectives were guided by a literature review. A hypothesis is advanced about what is expected to happen in the research. The research is designed to look at the relationship between disparate treatment of women police officers and discrimination, sexual harassment, advancement limits and retention problems. This research Is designed to assess the hypothesis, Women police officers experience disparate treatment. This research accepts certain critical assumptions. The 1 org research Is millennial Decease AT ten vitality AT ten assumptions. I en statement AT assumptions as the foundation of the research is as follows, This research is designed to assess the hypothesis that women police officers experience disparate treatment. To understand the implications of these critical assumptions for theory and research, experiences and attitudes of sample groups of male and women officers were explored. A method and content analysis of survey data revealed conclusions which supported the hypothesis. Implications of the research of disparate treatment of women police officers will be discussed in the report findings and discussion. This discussion incorporates other researchers views with a dialogue of how the literature review relates to the research being conducted. The research methodology will conceptualize the disparate treatment of women officers in law enforcement. Specific research procedures, such as survey questions, were developed which resulted in empirical observations representing those concepts in the real world. The literature review provides a detailed identification of the overall relevance to existing research as it relates to empirical research of the adverse affects associated tit disparate treatment of women officers in law enforcement. The harms of under representation of women in policing include discrimination, sexual harassment, advancement limits, retention problems, damaged community relations, ineffective response to violence against women, and the excessive force complaints that accompany a void of women in policing. In order to discuss the current status of women in law enforcement, it is important to review the history of women in the profession. Law enforcement has traditionally been a male dominated field ever since the mid-19th century and has been slow to accept women into its ranks. Women in policing make up less than 15 percent of all police officers in the United States (Harrington 2001). Women face many obstacles, and yet have brought about changes in policing. The Jobs available to policewomen were limited until the Civil Rights Act of 1964, (Essen 1999). In the early sasss, law enforcement agencies only hired men as police officers. This was a result of societys view that women were not fit to be police officers (Harrington and Lindsay 2006). In 1971 women accounted for only 1. 4 percent of all police officers. Today women in policing make up more than 13 recent of police officers. Women have made progress in their numbers in recent years but women are still underrepresented in all ranks in policing and women face many obstacles. The Supreme Court applied Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to law enforcement in 1972. Agencies could be sued for discriminating against qualified women. In some cases, the courts issued consent decrees which forced agencies to hire qualified women. Many law enforcement agencies used height and weight limits to prevent women from meeting the qualifications until the courts struck down this practice in 1977 in Dotard vs.. Rawlins. The International Association of Chiefs of Police (CAP) conducted a survey and found that women in policing are both underused and undervalued in law enforcement. While they said that the number of women in policing is growing and progressing through the ranks, it also revealed that there are too few women in law enforcement, woman police officers still face Elocutionary tattletales Trot male emcees, police agencies lack strategies Tort recruiting women, woman police officers face advancement limits, sexual harassment still occurs in many departments, there are few mentoring programs for female officers and women make valuable contributions to community policing.