1st Edition

Women Police

Edited By Mangai Natarajan Copyright 2005

    The law of equal representation should enable men and women in policing to be equally valued and rewarded for the work they perform, but it has been repeatedly shown that due to the great deal of opposition to the entry of women into policing, women worldwide have been unable to fully integrate into this largely male profession. Gender stereotypes have impeded the progress of women in policing and have played an unfortunate role in discriminating and devaluing their work. However, women make a valuable contribution to policing and the recognition and nurturing of their skills presents an important challenge to police management. The introduction to the volume reviews the status of women officers worldwide and the integration progress made to date. The important twenty four articles chosen for inclusion in this book document the need for women officers and describe the many barriers they face in being fully assimilated into policing. This volume serves as a 'wake up call' for police management to find ways to attract and retain women in the police force.

    Contents: History of Women in Policing: Preventative justice: the campaign for women police 1910-1940, Janis Appier; Policewomen in the 1950s: paving the way for patrol, Dorothy Moses Schulz; Women on the move? A report on the status of women in policing, Susan E. Martin; Concession and containment: the establishment of women in the Queensland police 1931-1965, Tim Prenzler; Discriminatory experiences of women police: a comparison of officers serving in England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, Jennifer Brown. Impediments to Full Integration: Policing women police, Simon Holdaway and Sharon K. Parker; Gender and police stress: the convergent and divergent impact of work environment, work-family conflict, and stress coping mechanisms of female and male police officers, Ni He, Jihong Zhao and Carol A. Archbold; Women in small-town policing: job performance and stress, Curt R. Bartol, George T. Bergen, Julie Seager Volckens and Kathleen M. Knoras; The impact of equal opportunities policies on the day-to-day experiences of women constables, Carol Martin; A social constructionist account of police culture and its influence on the representation and progression of female officers: a repertory grid analysis in a UK police force, Penny Dick and Devi Jankowicz; Appropriate skill-task matching or gender bias in deployment of male and female police officers?, Jennifer Brown, Anita Maidment and Ray Bull; Gender differences in police physical ability test performance, Michael L. Birzer and Dolores E. Craig. Perceived Performance and Attitudes to Women Police: Evaluating women on patrol: a critique of contemporary wisdom, Merry Morash and Jack R. Greene; The attitudes of women and men in policing: testing conventional and contemporary wisdom, Alissa Pollitz Worden; Female officers on patrol: public perceptions in the 1990s, Michael G. Breci; The weaker sex? Women and police work, Margot Ffrench and Linda Waugh . The Current Status of Women Police

    Biography

    Mangai Natarajan