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Women in the Criminal Justice Professions - An Analysis of Status Conflict (From Judge Lawyer Victim Thief, P 359-374, 1982, Nicole Hahn Rafter and Elizabeth Anne Stanko, ed. - See NCJ-85486)

NCJ Number
85499
Author(s)
N K Wilson
Date Published
1982
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This study suggests that occupational conflict women face upon entering criminal justice is that between the stereotyped social status of 'woman' and the stereotyped status of 'criminal justice professional.'
Abstract
The link between masculinity and criminal justice is so tightly bound that the public perception of a crime fighter is that of a man. Women, on the other hand, are viewed as yoked to other types of occupations such as homemaking. The degree of conflict between occupational and sex status in a criminal justice agency is a function of three variables: (1) the organizational orientation or model, (2) the occupational subculture, and (3) the presence of occupational substatuses or job specialties. If an agency operates under a crime control model, the attributes of aggression, dominance, and strength are associated with organization members, traits associated with the masculine stereotype; whereas, the service model portrays employees as service providers to clients who are in need of help, a role that can include the female role stereotype. If the occupational subculture within an agency is male-oriented only in the sense of the all-male club rather than being fashioned from such occupational imperatives as physical force, women will be more accepted by their coworkers. If occupational specialties labeled as 'men only' or 'women only' jobs are allowed to develop within an agency, women will have achieved a short-run gain at the expense of long-term loss. Future research should measure the relative importance of the three variables suggested as crucial for the conflict between occupational and sex statuses. Twenty-eight notes are listed.