NCJ Number
174398
Journal
Women and Criminal Justice Volume: 9 Issue: 3 Dated: 1998 Pages: 23-61
Date Published
1998
Length
39 pages
Annotation
This study builds on prior research in exploring the employment experiences of one group of female police officers working in a medium-sized, Pacific Northwest city, with attention to the barriers female officers may encounter that result from the "tokenism" phenomena.
Abstract
"Tokenism" is considered to exist, according to Kanter (1975, 1976, 1977, and 1989), when women compose less than 15 percent of the total group population. The interviews with women officers reported in this study document areas of concern for female officers moving into the late 1990s. Open-ended, semi- structured interviews, which lasted approximately 90 minutes, were conducted with 16 of the 24 female officers in a department that employed 277 sworn officers. Due to the small number of cases, the statistical analyses were limited to frequency distributions and percentage breakdowns. The job classifications for the 16 women interviews were 12 patrol officers (two senior officers and one patrolman, first class), three detectives, and one sergeant. All of the officers interviewed were white. Several of the female officers interviewed spoke of their concerns about the psychological effects of policing on women. In addition to the normal range of stressors associated with policing, the subjects referred to the aspects of a "token's" role: isolation, performance pressures, "role entrapment," and stereotyping. "Role entrapment" occurs when the dominant group forces the "token" into playing limited or "gender appropriate" roles. Female- appropriate roles in policing would be considered those tasks or positions that deal with women, children, or social issues. Compounded by generalizations and prevailing stereotypes, polarization exaggerates the "token's" ascribed attributes in contrast to the dominant group (Kanter 1977a). This study concludes that "tokenism," combined with factors such as family commitments and organizational structures, plays a large role in determining upward mobility, serving to reduce the frequency of the promotion of women to higher rank/supervisory positions in police departments. 6 tables, 16 notes, and 60 references