Lack of Minorities (Women) in Policing

The gender imbalance is a problem associated with the lack of minorities in law enforcement units. The issue has instigated an increase in violence against women in towns, cities, and states that hire more men than women. Also, there is a lot of tension noticeable in the various departments at the police force. The reason for not hiring more women at the police force is because of the perception that women are physically weak, they face many psychological pressures, and they find it hard to balance carrier and family (Hendonpub.

com, n. d). Recruiting more men in the workforce saw American states experience domestic violence as they were reluctant in responding to such calls (Asquith, 2018). Moreover, police use of excessive force also increases as women would prefer the use of less energy when dealing with suspects.

Lack of or recruitment of few numbers of women in the police force is a significant diversity affecting policing in America. The problem has affected American women significantly as there were several cases of domestic violence in the streets, homesteads, and schools (Asquith, 2018). Men show reluctance when informed about issues relating to sex crimes. Some of the male officers referred to such violated women as whores whose motives are to mess up guys lives (Asquith, 2018). Gender imbalance at the law enforcement departments, especially the representation of women in the sector leads to social inequality. Social equality dictates that there should be equal representation of both genders in the workforce. Seemingly, police forces have failed to achieve gender balance which has caused unrest women in various states. They want representation at the force so that their issues can be addressed as there would be someone who feels their pain upon violation.

Why do so few women choose to join law enforcement official in the United States? Among African American women, in particular, the level of participation/ rate of joining the police force is significantly low. According to police officers data in the United States over 80% of the force is composed of the male gender while less than 20% (Chu & Sun, 2007). Over time, the history of the law enforcement agency in the United States has shown a steady increase in the number of women who join the force, but the numbers are still considerably lower than desired. Women are slowly accepting a career in policing with continued changes in law enforcement. According to the research conducted to identify the reason many women opt out of a career in policing revealed different factors. Women, primarily, have encountered a host of challenges and enormous difficulties such as the constant negative attitudes by the men. The survey revealed that male officers expected women to fail in their work as police officers, claimed that they did not have the emotional capacity to handle the job and that women did not do ‘real’ policing work (Chu & Sun, 2007). Women experience a lot of resistance from their male counterparts in policing with the men openly displaying their negative attitudes to the women in policing.

There are differences between the women that join a career in policing in different geographical areas. Although the disparity occurs, it is not so much, and the differences are few. However, it was revealed that areas that had a high number of people who complete high school and pursue higher education leads to less poor attitude by men in policing to the women in the force. It is as if the increase in knowledge and education increased the tolerance and perception as well as the perspective that the male has towards their female counterparts in policing. It is clear that was one of the stark differences concerning the geographical area of the women that decide to join the law enforcement agencies across the United States. Another variation was in perspective held by women in various geographical areas with some believing that women are not cut out for the work in policing. This internalized idea and misconception that women cannot handle the challenges and the difficulties in policing has also affected the likely hood of the said communities seeing an increase in the number of women in policing (Chu & Sun, 2007). The differences in the processes and the variation of the relationships of women and policing across the regional areas have been shown to impact the willingness of many of the women to engage in policing as a career. Overall, women in policing are shown to go over many challenges and difficulties.

References

1. Asquith, C. (2018). Here’s What American Police Departments Are Missing: Women. [online] The Atlantic. Available at: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/08/police- departments-women-officers/497963/ [Accessed 19 Apr. 2019].
2. Chu, D., & Sun, I. (2007). Female Police Officers’ Job-Related Attitudes. Women & Criminal Justice, 18(1-2), 107-130. doi: 10.1300/j012v18n01_04
3. Hendonpub.com. (n. d). Challenges for Women in Policing | Hendon Publishing. [online] Available at: http://www.hendonpub.com/resources/article_archive/results/details?id=1614 [Accessed 19 Apr. 2019].

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