Gender Diversity In Police Agencies
Law enforcement agencies have experienced minimum changes in their demographics. The female number of law enforcement agencies, together with that of minority groups are still meager. Researchers have indicated that there are research gaps in the experiences of women in law enforcement agencies. Police administrators have also stated that they face numerous challenges regarding the recruitment and retention of female law enforcement officers. The administrators have sought and implemented various recruitment campaigns to bring in more female officers. However, many of the campaigns turned out unsuccessful either through failing to attract a good number of interested female officers or finding it hard to keep them in the profession. This challenge prevails despite the increasing importance of achieving gender diversity across different fields in the universe. Various institutions understand that a representation of all genders is essential in meeting the needs of law enforcement agencies and their communities.
Therefore, this research paper seeks to discuss why police agencies struggle to recruit and retain female officers. Additionally, the discussion will look into the importance of gender diversity in law enforcement agencies and finally give policy recommendations to achieve the desired gender diversity.
Literature Review
Reasons why Police Agencies Struggle to Hire and Retain Female Officers
According to Brinser (2016), gender inequality in law enforcement agencies is one major factor that prevents female officers from joining or being retained. One form of gender inequality is through the workplace discriminations and sexual harassment that female officers are continually facing. The initial hiring processes for most of the police agencies incorporate intensive physical standards that are unfavorable in the feminine side. According to the IACP (2001), recruiting programs have not focused on hiring women candidates that are qualified. The law enforcement agencies have failed to bring in programs that point out the essential skills for law enforcement officers, especially in the current work environment. Law enforcement continually utilizing the traditional recruiting programs only takes away the opportunity of bringing in qualified female officers needed and retained (IACP, 2001).
Even after hiring, the kind of uniforms the female officers receive and the glass ceilings placed, preventing them from getting promoted are all reasons that deter women from entering law enforcement. In addition, Haas, Timmerman, & Hoing (2009) have called out the constant offensive behaviors that women are forced to face in their work environment. A female law officer is more likely to face sexual harassment from the male colleagues and superiors, and they cannot do anything about it. Considering the work environment is predominantly male, the female workers are intimidated by making any reports of sexual harassment due to the high possibility of potential retaliation (Haas, Timmerman, & Hoing, 2009). This is one challenge that a willing female officer may deter themselves from joining law enforcement. Others who may take the risk of joining and succeed may easily give up the victimization that the job will make them endure.
The other barrier to hiring and retaining female law officers is related to the police’s subculture and personality. According to Ravasi & Schultz (2006), each organization has its culture, a set of shared mental assumptions that are guidelines for interpreting and conducting oneself within that environment in different situations. The organization culture for police agencies is one complex system of attitudes that define their normative and behavioral social world of law enforcement officers (Marshall, 2013). The police work revolves around a lot of authority, a code of silence, and being vulnerable to lots of danger (Ravasi & Schultz, 2006). For instance, during arrests, some suspects become uncooperative that the use of physical force becomes necessary. There is also an “us versus them mentality” in the police force that has the officers having specific values such as secrecy and the need to protect each other.
The autonomy, authority, and uncertainties surrounding the police working environment make the officers highly protect their profession. They deter themselves from bringing in new recruits and also have to ensure that they adhere to the codes and value system. Female officers should prove that they will be loyal and trustworthy so that they are considered “one of the guys” (Thiabult, Lynch & McBride, 2004). For females, it takes extra effort to prove their loyalty and trustworthiness. It becomes a survival tactic for the women in law enforcement, and so they should adopt the language, mannerisms, and functions played by male colleagues. It is the difficulties in trying to become part of the social group that the female officers become alienated and choose to leave. The female officers that cannot become like the boys will rarely be recognized for their work and achievements because it is a cycle from the top-level managers to junior employees (Marshall, 2013). To this effect, it is challenging to hire and retain female officers in predominantly male work environments.
The Need for Gender Diversity In Policing
The pursuit of gender equality is currently a global legal duty and a necessity in achieving national development objectives. For law enforcement, Denney (2019) indicates that gender diversity is essential in protecting everyone’s rights in the work environment and making policing more effective, achieving high levels of security, and strengthening the rule of law. These objectives are achievable through gender diversity. This kind of equality ultimately prevents violence, protects all peoples’ rights, and enables each individual to make meaningful contributions to the development of public life. According to Riccucci et al., (2014), the gender composition in police agencies has been associated with the public’s view towards the job performance and quality of policing by the respective police officers. Their research would find that agencies with a better representation of officers in terms of gender were considered trustworthy, doing better jobs, and handling different situations than agencies with wide police disparities. To this effect, organizations must work towards achieving gender diversity as it determines the perception of the public towards them, which influences how they get to work together.
Integrating all genders into policing will ensure that all individuals, regardless of gender in the community, can air out their distinct safety concerns. When female officers are brought into law enforcement, the different security needs that affect the female gender are understood much better. Also, there will be support for strategies to address and develop the individuals. Additionally, bringing in female officers into police agencies will serve as change catalysts for the organizations as it destabilizes the prevalent male working-class culture (Schuck & Rabe-Hemp, 2014). This makes the organizations more open to change that will challenge the hegemonic institutional structures and any power dynamics through the integration of knowledge bases and appreciation of the differences existing in socialization experiences. It is essential to have organizations challenge their status quo as it will have them rethink their different avenues to different resources and make several structural changes.
Policy Recommendations for Police Agencies to Incorporate Gender Diversity
The adoption of proactive strategies in recruitment5, hiring, and retention strategies will help achieve the gender diversity levels desired in law enforcement agencies (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2016). These strategies should be in a position to address the current challenges facing female officers, implement reforms, and ensure steady progress towards achieving the diversity existing within the community they serve. Notably, these strategies are variant; hence not all will apply similarly to all law enforcement agencies. It is the agencies’ mandate to look into their organizations and understand their challenges that will lead to coming up with the right strategies to handle them. However, the diversity-building approach will have several mutual themes which include: affirming that the police agency’s culture is guided by community policing, procedural justice and cultural inclusivity, an engagement with the agencies stakeholders and the will to reevaluate the organization’s standards continually, criteria and benchmarks to ensure that they are aligned with the skills to be exhibited by the police agency.
One recommendation for the recruitment stage is implementing proactive and targeted community outreach initiatives to encourage individuals from diverse populations to consider pursuing careers in law enforcement (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2016). The police agencies could partner with the community and civic organizations, which have created proper engagement platforms with the communities. The existing workforce ends up interacting with the community as they speak on matters of law enforcement and how they all can work together for improved policing services. The interactions will yield an applicant pool of individuals who will be willing to work towards the community’s public safety. During these interactions, they must point out the reasons for requiring more female participants to be part of the applicants. The interactions could effectively use technology and social media to communicate and connect with all community members. This makes communication constant, thus remaining a reminder in the minds of interested female individuals.
In the hiring process, the police agencies need to adopt programs that encompass a holistic view on the strengths and skills brought by the diverse individuals, which will be essential for the work of police agencies (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2016). While one step of hiring practices was to ensure that the officers met a defined physique, this was a limiting factor for many female applicants. Therefore, the organizations must have a holistic evaluation of what females can bring to an agency and the entire community. An understanding of their importance will ensure that the right and fair standards are implemented. The agencies need to reconsider their selection criterion and ensure that the examinations correspond to the job’s duties and proportionately include individuals from the underrepresented female gender.
After hiring the qualified female officers, the law enforcement agencies need to work to ensure that the officers are retained as long as they remain productive for the agency and the community (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2016). High productivity levels will be achieved through mentorship and leadership training programs that will support gender diversity. In this case, the leaders and all employees are regularly trained on how to support, guide, and avail the required resources to the diverse workforce population. This motivates and encourages them to put on more effort. These programs also foster strong relationships between the superior and junior officers regardless of gender, which leads to greater success in the retention of employees.
The second strategy for retaining female officers is to foster community partnerships and stakeholder engagement (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2016). These interactions help in a better understanding of the unique problems faced by the female officers as they work in their law enforcement careers leading to the development of solutions that will directly address them. Since these are external stakeholders, the partnerships ensure that the diagnosis of barriers existing within the systems is appropriately conducted with no forms of bias. The interactions allow the agencies to come up with holistic and comprehensive approaches to the restrictions of diversity and the replication of outreach efforts to reach more female applicants (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2016). A demonstration of being invested and connected to the community by the police agency will improve public trust, and have prospective officers viewing the police careers as meaningful and honorable.
Conclusion
Law enforcement agencies have, for the longest time, remained predominantly male institutions. The numbers of female officers have continued continuously low, with very few being hired and many of them leaving the jobs. The work environment has been one of the primary reasons for female officers to go to the agencies. However, the agencies must work on improving these conditions to allow more female officers into police agencies. Workplace diversity is essential in achieving community policing in the modern environment.
References
Brinser, K. L. (2016). An examination of perceptual challenges faced by female police officers (Doctoral dissertation).
Denney, L. (2019). Policing and Gender. Tool 2: Gender and Security Toolkit.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (2016). Advancing Diversity In Law Enforcement. U.S. Department of Justice. Retrieved from https://nccpsafety.org/assets/files/library/Advancing_Diversity_in_Law_Enforcement.pdf
Haas, S., Timmerman, G., & Hoing, M. (2009). Sexual harassment and health among male and female police officers. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 14(4), 390-401.
International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP). (2001). Recruiting & Retaining Women: A Self-Assessment Guide for Law Enforcement. Bureau of Justice Assistance Bulletin.
Marshall, G. (2013). Barriers to women in law enforcement. Athabasca, Alberta: Athabasca University.
Ravasi, D., & Schultz, M. (2006), “Responding to organizational identity threats: exploring the role of organizational culture,” Academy of Management Journal, Vol.49, No.3, pp. 433–458.
Riccucci, N.M., Van Ryzin, G.G., and Lavena, C.F., 2014. Representative bureaucracy in policing: does it increase perceived legitimacy? Journal of public administration research and theory, 24 (3), 537–551.
Schuck, A. M., & Rabe-Hemp, C. (2014). Citizen complaints and Gender Diversity in Police Organisations. Policing and Society, 26(8), 859–874. doi:10.1080/10439463.2014.989161
Thibault, E. A., Lynch, L. M., McBride, R. B., & Walsh, G. (2004). Proactive police management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
