Women in Power? Examining Gender and Promotion in Policing Through an Organizational Perspective

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.

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

Matusiak,

Frazier

2024

Gender discrimination and family stressors: Perceptions and experiences of women police officers

Schafer,

Dunlap,

Mancini

et al. 2024

Women police officers may experience discrimination and work–life balance challenges that can impede their entry into and advancement and retention within police organizations. This study used in-depth interviews with 14 women police officers in the St. Louis, MO, metropolitan region to examine workplace stressors, experiences within policing, and perceptions of whether and how gender influenced those stressors and experiences. Participants expressed that they experienced discrimination based on gender, including direct discrimination, such as denial of specialized training, denial of lateral changes in duty assignments, and barriers to career advancement, and indirect discrimination in the form of teasing, harassment, and higher expectations. Many participants also reported they deployed coping strategies to insulate themselves from those experiences, isolated themselves from situations that might result in discrimination or harassment, or sought ways to mitigate the harm of those experiences. Police departments must create environments that support not just gender representation but gender equity.

Gender differences in Chinese policing: Supervisor support, wellbeing, and turnover intention

Ha,

Sun,

et al. 2024

Many studies have been conducted over the past few decades to assess gender differences in police officers’ attitudes towards critical aspects of policing. Nonetheless, this line of inquiry has focused predominately on police officers in Western democracies, with limited attention to gender differences in societies where cultural traditions and gender inequalities remain influential in shaping police officers’ occupational attitudes. Using survey data collected from over 1,900 police officers in a northern Chinese province, this study assesses whether female and male officers differ in their attitudes towards supervisor treatment, psychological and physical conditions, and intention to leave the profession. We found that female police officers displayed occupational attitudes that distinguish them from their male counterparts. Contrary to Western evidence, Chinese female officers expressed lower intentions to leave the police profession than male officers. Female officers also reported better wellbeing with lower stress and health concerns than their male counterparts. We also found that supervisors’ procedurally fair treatment and support of technological advancement are associated with lower turnover intention. Implications for policy and future research are discussed.