Achieving female supervisory representation in US law enforcement agencies: The roles of organizational structure, practice, and context

Abstract

The current research explores relationships between law enforcement agencies’ organizational structures and practices and the representation of women in supervisory positions. Utilizing Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (2016) and American Community Survey (2011–15) survey data, we employed fractional response and binary logistic regression models to assess both the proportions of female officers in supervisory positions and differences between agencies that do and do not employ them. Results indicate organizational structures and practices play a limited role in shaping supervisory representation. The promotion of women, therefore, appears to be shaped to a greater extent by those managing the process rather than the framework it occurs within.