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Burdett, F., Gouliquer, L., & Poulin, C. (2018). Culture of Corrections: The Experience of Women Correctional Officers. Feminist Criminology, 1 - 21. doi:10.1177/1557085118767974

Chandler, M. A. (2018, January 27). Women working in male prisons face harassment from inmates and co-workers. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/women-working-in-male-prisons-face-harassment-from-inmates-and-co-workers/2018/01/27/21552cee-01f1-11e8-9d31-d72cf78dbeee_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.5d854857b08b

Choi, S., Gulati, M., Holman, M., & Posner, E. (2009, October 2). Do Women Make Better Judges? Slate.

Crouch, B. M. (1985). Pandora's Box: Women Guards in Men's Prisons. Journal of Criminal Justice, 13, 535 - 548.

DeTardo-Bora, K. A. (2009). Criminal Justice “Hollywood Style”: How Women in Criminal Justice Professions Are Depicted in Prime-Time Crime Dramas. Women and Criminal Justice, 19(2), 153 - 168. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/08974450902791336

Grossman, N. (2011). Sex representation on the bench and the legitimacy of international criminal courts. Criminal Law Review, 11(3), 643 - 653. doi:10.1163/157181211X576474

Irving, R. (2009). Career trajectories of women in policing in Australia. Retrieved from Australian Institute of Criminology.: https://aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/tandi370

McLoughlin, K. (2015). The politics of gender diversity on the high court of Australia. Alternative Law Journal, 40(3), 166 - 170.

Porter, L. E., & Prenzler, T. (2017). Police officer gender and excessive force complaints: an Australian study. Policing and Society, 27(8), 865 - 883. doi:10.1080/10439463.2015.1114616

Prenzler, T., & Sinclair, G. (2013). The status of women police officers: an international review. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice, 41(2), 115 - 131.

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This figure shows the vast differences in the prevalence of men and women in the police force in the 1990’s across different states.

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The article “‘Toughen up’: Women working in male prisons face harassment from inmates and co-workers” (Chandler, 2018) discusses the experiences of Taronica White a female corrections officer working in a Florida state prison.

Here the women were victims of harassment by both male inmates and male work colleagues. The Coleman suit became a lawsuit where the women made statements that they were told “Toughen up,” “Your skin is too thin,” “This is a male institution,” or “You’re ‘too pretty.’” Women believed the message they were receiving in the corrections workplace was clear “You should not be here.” White stated after the settlement that the aim of the law suit: “I want anyone to know that a female working in any male-dominated field should be treated with the same level of respect.”

This shows the difficulties and gender stereotypes women often have to overcome when working in a male dominated workplace.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/women-working-in-male-prisons-face-harassment-from-inmates-and-co-workers/2018/01/27/21552cee-01f1-11e8-9d31-d72cf78dbeee_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.3f8ef57eab71

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The article “Do Women Make Better Judges?” discusses the lack of women judges. The differences in life experiences in male vs. females is considered to impact the professional standards of the judge and here women are often seen as having better life perspectives, therefore making better judgmental decisions (Choi, Gulati, Holman, & Posner, 2009).

Grossman argues that mixed genders are “essential to normative legitimacy because men and women make different contributions to international criminal adjudication.” (Grossman, 2011). A balanced judiciary of men and women can make decisions from the point of view of either sex.

A good point regarding this issue is made by McLoughlin stating that gender should not be an issue in the first place as the job of the judicial officer should be always objectionable and unresponsive to social pressures (McLoughlin, 2015).

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Justice Sonia Sotomayor's elevation to the Supreme Court brought to the surface a long-simmering controversy about the relationship between gender and judging. Are female nominees for judicial positions chosen based on affirmative action? If so, are women on the bench worse judges than men-or do they come with advantages that men lack? This controversy has legs. If Justice Ginsburg is forced to retire this term because of illness, reducing the number of female justices from two to one, there will be a great deal of pressure on President Obama to nominate another female jurist. Or if Justice John Paul Stevens retires, why not three women on the high court?

Many conservatives believe that gender should not factor into the choice of judges and justices. For them, Sotomayor was an affirmative action candidate. Because many fewer women than men went to law school in the 1970s and 1980s, and more women drop out of legal practice to care for their families than men do, the pool of judicial candidates today is dominated by men. It stands to reason that if male judicial candidates are passed over in favor of women, less qualified people will be selected.

Yet there is an alternative view: that women may actually be better judges. Sotomayor herself obliquely expressed this view long before her nomination, saying, as we heard repeated often last summer, "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life." Most women, unlike most men, know what it is like to be discriminated against and oppressed and, if they want to succeed, must "learn to see both sides in ways that men do not," as 's Dahlia Lithwick put it. Men face no similar pressures and so live in a happy bubble of illusion. Because the job of the judge involves seeing other people's perspectives, female judges have a real, albeit hard-won, advantage.

The claim that women are worse-or better-than men at judging should be susceptible to empirical investigation. There is no obvious way, however, to measure judicial quality; lawyers dispute endlessly whether cases are rightly or wrongly decided-and, ultimately, a good judge is just a judge who decides cases correctly. Still, we have come up with some indirect measures of judicial quality. These include productivity (how many opinions judges write), influence (how frequently other judges rely on their opinions), and independence (how often judges dissent from opinions written by judges who belong to the same political party). We looked at the performance of hundreds of judges over a number of years and working in different types of courts-state supreme courts, federal trial courts, and federal appellate courts. ( Our paper is here.)

We found that the conservatives are right about one thing. On average, female judges are less qualified, based on traditional metrics, than male judges. They have attended lower-ranked colleges and lower-ranked law schools, they are less likely to have had judicial clerkships (a prestigious job often taken by top law school graduates), and they have less experience in private practice before becoming judges. This suggests that the pool of stellar female candidates for the judiciary is smaller than the pool of stellar male candidates, which provides ammunition for the conservative argument that President Obama's choice of Sotomayor, or another female justice, involves affirmative action in favor of women. If female judges are chosen on the basis of sex rather than ability, they must be less talented than male judges, the theory goes. If they were just as good, it would not be necessary to put a thumb on the scale in their favor when evaluating judicial candidates.

Yet when it comes to performance rather than qualifications, we find no statistically significant differences between the decision-making ability of male and female judges in any of our data sets. Female judges are cited just as often as male judges; they write as many opinions; and they are just as likely to dissent, and to dissent from opinions written by judges who belong to their party. Indeed, female judges with the same level of experience as male judges are more likely to dissent from opinions written by fellow Democratic or Republican appointees, suggesting perhaps that women on the bench are less influenced by political considerations or are just tougher nuts than their brethren.

Our findings do not bear directly on the empirical literature that suggests that women and men decide cases differently when those cases involve issues of particular concern to women-for example, sex discrimination or family law cases. But we did wonder whether the judicial opinions of female judges on these issues might receive more citations because other judges would regard the women as expert. However, we found no difference in this respect.

How could it be that the female judges chosen from a smaller pool, and with less impressive credentials, perform as well as male judges? There are two possible answers. (A third, that our measures of judicial quality are not any good, we prefer to ignore!)

First possibility: Sotomayor and Lithwick may be correct. Women might be better judges than men, and that would explain why less experienced women perform just as well as more experienced men-with women's "life experience," in effect, making up for their more limited legal experience. This theory implies that women should outperform men of equal experience. And, in fact, as we've mentioned, our data show that, controlling for experience, women do outperform men on one of the three measures-independence. A woman who'd gone to Harvard and moved to the bench after 20 years of experience in a law firm would be a somewhat more independent judge than a man with the same professional background-that is, more likely to publicly disagree with a judge of her party. One might conjecture that women develop thicker hides in legal practice or that men with thinner hides are more likely to flee the rigors of private practice and take refuge in lower-paying judgeships. But that part is speculation.

The second potential explanation for our findings: It might be that presidents (and governors and others who select judges) look for characteristics other than elite education, legal experience, and similar markers. Perhaps they do this because such factors only poorly predict a person's success as a judge. Presidents and governors may have a rough sense of a threshold for a judicial candidate, one that leaves them with a large group from which to choose on the basis of other characteristics-for example, party loyalty, or personal reputation, or other intangibles. If this is so, a politician who chooses a woman rather than a man does not sacrifice quality. This might explain why female judges tend to be more independent than male judges: With a deeper pool of men to choose from, perhaps politicians select men who are proven partisan loyalists rather than the men with the most talent.

Whatever the reason, our basic point is this: The fact that female judges are selected from a shallower pool of talent does not imply that they are worse judges than men. In fact, the evidence suggests that they are at least as good as male judges, perhaps better. When she sat on the 2 nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Justice Sotomayor ranked among the most cited federal appellate judges in the country. Bring on the women!

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Justice Sonia Sotomayor's elevation to the Supreme Court brought to the surface a long-simmering controversy about the relationship between gender and judging. Are female nominees for judicial positions chosen based on affirmative action? If so, are women on the bench worse judges than men-or do they come with advantages that men lack?

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Why are there more men than women in the police force? Policing is often seen as “requiring symbolic authority and physical force that only males could exercise” (Prenzler & Sinclair, 2013). This masculine stereotype has been socially constructed as women are viewed as the weaker sex. However support for more women in the police force is becoming more evident. One benefit of women in the criminal justice system includes women being more respectful and supportive of victims, whilst men often provoke resistance and aggression, escalating situations (Porter & Prenzler, 2017).

From 1996 to 2006 women in the Australian police force has increased from 13.5% to 23% (Irving, 2009).

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Foreword | At 30 June 2006, 23 percent of Australian police were women, almost double the percentage in 1996. Despite this change, the issues relevant a decade earlier remain today, namely difficulties in recruitment and deployment and the low representation of women within senior ranks. This paper examines the career paths of one cohort of police sworn in during 1991 in a number of jurisdictions, to examine what differences, if any, exist between the male and female personnel in terms of recruitment, rank attainment, departures and deployment. The findings indicate that recruitment of women in policing in Australia has generally doubled in the decade, but that a higher proportion of men than of women have attained the more senior ranks. Women, however, attained promotions more quickly than did men. Some states also had higher departure rates of female officers than others, and there are gender disparities in reasons for departure and in some areas of policing. National, continuous monitoring is required to track these trends, and research in greater depth is needed to investigate reasons for the differences identified between male and female police and between jurisdictions.
Judy Putt
General Manager, Research
The lack of women within the senior ranks of law enforcement agencies continues to be a problem in Australia as well as overseas. As the proportion of women in policing continues to increase over time, it should be anticipated that the number who occupy senior positions will also increase, albeit slowly. A preliminary examination of the career progression of a cohort of police from 1991 indicates, however, that a greater proportion of males have attained the higher ranks, although the few females who have done so have attained them faster than their male counterparts.

Baxter and Wright (2000) found that substantial increases in female police numbers are necessary in order to achieve small increases in the numbers of women in senior management. Increasing female numbers alone is not, however, an assurance of increased female numbers in management positions; this will require efforts to ensure specifically that women be given the opportunities to learn to become competent managers (Etter 1996).

Although writing at a time when the role of women in policing was more restricted, Van Velsor and Hughes (1990) found that female police managers did not obtain the diversity of experience that their male counterparts did, tending to impede their promotional prospects. A study of women in the United States also found that women were over-represented in community and administrative policing roles while under-represented in various specialist areas (Van Velsor & Hughes 1990). Similar problems of under-representation of women in policing exist in England and Wales. Although the proportion of female police officers rose from 16 percent in 1998 to 23 percent in March 2007 (Ford 2008) - a 44 percent relative increase over the decade - the same cannot be said of those in the higher ranks.

For example, in relation to senior (in Australia, commissioned) officers, the proportion of females is small both in England and Wales (as of 2004: Christopherson & Cotton 2004) and in Australia (as of 2006), with only eight percent of senior officers being female in both countries.

In Australia, there was a 70 percent increase in the overall proportion of women in policing in the period 1996 to 2006, considerably higher than the 44 percent increase in England and Wales over a similar period. Currently, exactly the same proportion (23%) of police officers in England and Wales and in Australia are female.

The present study sought to track the careers and deployment of one cohort of officers in Australia over time, to establish the extent of the problem of restricted career progression. Early results indicate that no such problem necessarily exists, with the exception of deployment in major crime, investigative, and traffic areas.

Career progression study

Until recently, policing agencies did not systematically collect information on the proportion of women in different roles and ranks in the Australian states and territories (Prenzler & Hayes 2000). The Australian Institute of Criminology gathers information about the composition of Australia's police services according to rank and gender on an annual basis, but more-precise information about actual tasks performed and the time taken to attain promotions was not available. Without such detail, policy questions relevant to the recruitment and retention of female police in Australia cannot be answered.

In order to gain a better insight into the career progression of female police officers, the present study undertook a retrospective mapping of the career paths of every police officer sworn in during 1991. The aim was to follow the careers of this cohort of officers over time in order to provide an insight into factors that may contribute to or detract from career progression.

The AIC requested information about all police sworn in during 1991: their sex, year of birth, rank attained, sections and locations worked in, and, if applicable, departure information.

All of the state and territory police services indicated a willingness to participate in the study, although some were unable to do so, due to problems in extracting the requested data. As a result, fully participating states and territories were New South Wales, Western Australia, and the Australian Capital Territory. Tasmania and Victoria also participated but were able to supply information about their recruits from only 1992 and 1997 respectively, meaning that for the large part Victoria had to be excluded from the analysis. The ACT was also excluded from some of the analyses, due to the skewed gender proportions of its 1991 intake, which consisted of 19 females and only four males.

The 1991 cohort from New South Wales, Western Australia, and the Australian Capital Territory comprised 638 police, including 138 females and 500 males. Figure 1 shows the sex distribution in each of the four states and the ACT.

Source: AIC Women in Policing Dataset 0109 [computer file]

Recruitment

In 1996, 13.5 percent of all Australian police service personnel were female. By 30 June 2006, this had increased to approximately 23 percent, which represents a 70 percent relative increase in the proportion of female personnel over the decade, or an average relative increase of approximately seven percent every year.

In relation to the proportion of female recruits, however, the rate of increase has been slower. In 1995, 23 percent of police recruits nationally were female, and in 2006, 35 percent (a 52% relative increase on the original proportion over the 11 years). The proportion of female recruits has also varied considerably between states and territories, fluctuating by up to five percent in any year in the same period.

The differences between states and territories in relation to the numbers of female officers could be attributable to a variety of factors. Arguably, alternative careers are more readily available in some states and territories than in others. Policing in some locations is seen as a less attractive career option than in other places, and some states and territories employ more-effective recruitment strategies than others or devote more resources to advertising and promotion of policing as a career option for women. In Victoria, for example, whereas more than 24 percent of new recruits were female in 1995, the proportion in 2006 had risen to 43 percent.

Of the cohort examined, based on data relating to the time of swearing in, different jurisdictions' proportions of female officers ranged from 11 to 23 percent. Although the proportion of female recruits has increased considerably over time, it will take a substantially longer period for changes to show as progression through the ranks.

Rank attainment

The proportion of female officers through the ranks has increased slowly. Between 1995 and 2006, the proportion of female constables increased from 17 to 27 percent; the proportion of female sergeants / senior sergeants, from four to 11 percent; and the proportion of female commissioned officers, in still relatively low percentages: from two to eight.

By the end of 2005, of the 538 officers in the 1995 cohort who were still serving, 20 percent were female and 80 percent were male; 144 had attained the rank of sergeant or above; and 84 percent of the highest-ranking staff members were male. The majority of staff members were still at senior constable rank, 79 percent of those being female (Figure 2 ).

Source: AIC Women in Policing Dataset 0109 [computer file]

Although proportionately fewer females in the cohort had attained the higher ranks, the females who had had done so at a faster rate than their male colleagues. On average it had taken 15 years for males to attain inspector rank, and 13 years for females to do so.

Departures

Analysis was also conducted of those in the cohort who had left policing as a career. This included those who had resigned, retired, died on duty, or been removed as a result of disciplinary action. As at 31 December 2005, the average time that cohort personnel took to depart was 10 years by males and 11 years by females. Only New South Wales and Western Australia provided information about personnel who had left policing, with New South Wales also detailing reasons for their departure.

In New South Wales, twice the proportion of cohort males as of cohort females left policing due to general retirement. The inverse was the case in medical reasons for retirement: six percent of cohort females resigned due to medical reasons, and three percent of the cohort males did so. None of the cohort females left policing due to death or disciplinary removal, and 0.6 percent and 1.5 percent of the male cohort left for these reasons respectively. Five percent of the male cohort and nine percent of the female cohort did not specify a reason for departing.

Figure 3 shows the breakdown of the cohort of police in New South Wales who had departed as at 31 December 2005. None of the cohort had departed prior to 1999, during the first eight years of their service, but there was a consistent flow of departures annually from 2000 on. Of the original 428 officers in the New South Wales cohort, 63 (15%) had left the service by 31 December 2005: 21 percent of female and 13 percent of male officers.

Source: AIC Women in Policing Dataset 0109 [computer file]

This contrasts with the Western Australian cohort, who began departing from 1992, the year following their swearing in. Of the original 187 Western Australian police in the cohort, 27 percent had left policing by 2006, almost twice the comparable rate in New South Wales. It is difficult to draw conclusions about the differences between these two states, as the Western Australian cohort's reasons for departure were not provided. When the Western Australian and New South Wales cohorts were compared, a marked gender difference between the two states was apparent.

Of the 63 New South Wales officers who had departed, 67 percent were male and 33 percent were female. This was quite different from the 27 percent (of 187 officers) in the Western Australian cohort who had left policing, 94 percent of whom were male, six percent female. In Western Australia, males in the cohort departed at almost 16 times the rate of their female counterparts. This differed from both New South Wales and Tasmania, whose males departed at only twice the rate of their female counterparts. In Tasmania, the overall departure rate was considerably higher than those of New South Wales and Western Australia, with 36 percent of the original 47 officers in the cohort having departed. The sex breakdown of the departed group was nearly identical to that of the New South Wales group: 65 percent males, 35 percent females.

Western Australia had a very high male departure rate as well as an uncharacteristically low female departure rate. This could partially be explained by the fact that both the New South Wales and Tasmanian cohorts both originally comprised 77 percent males whereas the Western Australian cohort comprised 89 percent males. Even so, it would appear that the departure rate for males in Western Australia was disproportionate in comparison with those of New South Wales and Tasmania. Explanations for these differences requires further research on the reasons for departure from all state and territory police services.

In an attempt to understand whether which sections the departing officers had worked in had any bearing on their reasons for leaving, further analysis was undertaken of the entire cohort. Drawing conclusions without knowing the sex breakdown of staff of the sections and that of the sworn personnel is difficult, although some trends can be discerned.

It appears that only in traffic sections was male officers' departure rate disproportionately high. The numbers of other staff who had departed from various sections were too small to allow any trends to be observed.

Deployment

Lack of experience in various areas is believed to be one of the main barriers to career advancement of women within police services. Wilkinson and Froyland (1996) argued that police need to have experience in a range of locations and situations if they are to attain positions of leadership. Prenzler (1995) also viewed the dearth of women in the higher ranks of policing as being due to the limited opportunities for deployment in specialist areas.

Figure 4 provides an indication of the sex distribution of the entire cohort as at 31 December 2005, among the sections that they had worked in. In Western Australia, New South Wales and Tasmania, the sex ratio of cohort members who had worked in the listed sections during 2005 constituted 80 to 90 percent males, 10 to 20 percent females. The overall gender composition too of the cohort in these states was 80 percent males and 20 percent females.

Source: AIC Women in Policing Dataset 0109 [computer file]

Sections that had the highest ratios of males to females were the traffic section and the major crime and criminal investigations branch (CIB). In terms of promotional prospects in relation to differing sections, it is too early to draw conclusions, as the majority of the cohort had only attained lower to middle ranks.

In New Zealand, Hyman (2000) examined the barriers to the recruitment, progress, and retention of women in the criminal investigation branch of New Zealand Police. Using focus groups composed of male and female CIB members, she found that the majority of female members felt that they were at a disadvantage over their male counterparts due to a lack of role models and mentors. It was also perceived that their being part of a minority group meant receiving increased scrutiny and feeling that they had to 'fit in' and to establish credibility within their office by performing better than male staff members were expected to. Many believed that errors made by females were attributed to their gender rather than being specific to the officer in question.

It would be useful to conduct interviews with members of the current cohort, replicating the research conducted by Hyman (2000) so as to determine whether Australian perceptions of barriers to progression are similar to New Zealand perceptions.

Examination of the data from the cohorts in New South Wales, Western Australia and Tasmania shows that the ratio of males to females working in uniformed sections over time has remained relatively constant at about four to one, even though actual numbers of uniformed staff have almost halved, from 609 to 318.

This ratio is consistent with the data from the original New South Wales, Western Australian, and Tasmanian combined cohort, which comprised 80 percent males and 20 percent females. Changes over time in the numbers of cohort officers in the major crime sections and criminal investigation branches differ from those in relation to uniformed operations. Instead of reducing in number, the numbers have doubled or trebled every three years. This is understandable given the investigative skills and training required in these areas. What is also noticeable is that since 1999, the representation of male cohort officers in these sections has consistently been higher than that of female ones, far exceeding the overall 79 percent male - 21 percent female distribution. The reasons for this warrant further research.

Although actual numbers are quite low, there are consistent patterns among police services in relation to the gender balance of officers working in traffic sections. Over the 12-year period, neither the numbers nor the sex ratios have fluctuated greatly. Certainly the 90-97 percent representation by males in these sections is much higher than the 80 percent cohort representation. Once again, it is difficult to attribute reasons for this sex imbalance without further research, and it cannot be assumed that it is due to organisational barriers. It may be the case that males tend to be more interested in performing the tasks associated with traffic branches, including traffic-bike duties and one-person patrols.

Other specialist areas, such as surveillance, tactical, water-police, forensic, and dog-squad units, had male-to-female ratios similar to that of the original cohort. It appears that the proportion of males working in these areas continues to increase, thus indicating a need for recruitment of women in these areas.

Fewer than 10 staff members from the cohort worked in human resources and support sections prior to 2002. It appears that the proportion of males in these sections may have been increasing since 2002, contrary to commonly held expectations of the high proportion of female officers working in these areas.

Barriers

It has been argued that traditional police cultures and entrenched negative attitudes toward women within policing have been partly responsible for the low percentage of women reaching senior management positions. Recent research has indicated that these influences may be beginning to change (Silvestri 2007). More-positive attitudes to female police have also resulted in improved relationships between police departments and their communities (Miller 1999).

Difficulties also face some women working in policing because of the inability to terminate rostered shifts while working in the middle of a crisis situation or investigation. Given that women still hold the predominant care-giving role in relation to child-raising, shiftwork can pose difficulties for those trying to balance family responsibilities with shiftwork and overtime.

There has been some change in workplaces generally, allowing more flexibility through options such as part-time work, but recent research has found that it is predominantly women who are still affected by the difficulties of balancing work and family. Adams (2001) found that significantly more females than males reported that their work interfered with their family life. Male officers were less likely, however, to be married / de facto and to have dependants.

These research findings highlight the need for police services to develop flexible work options to ensure that females not be disadvantaged by the responsibilities associated with family and child-rearing and that appropriate support be offered to women who choose to return to policing after having had children.

Limitations of the study

The findings from this study relate primarily to a cohort from three states. As such, they are not necessarily representative of trends throughout Australian policing. In addition, recruitment strategies vary considerably among states and over time, with some police services targeting particular personality profiles or attributes at specified times.

The rank structures and promotional system for each state and territory are different too, so rank-based findings should be interpreted with some caution.

It should also be noted that for comparison of the cohort members, sections had to be grouped that in one state may perform work not entirely the same as in another state or territory.

Conclusions

Over the decade to 2006, policing in Australia improved greatly in terms of gender equity. The most noticeable change for women in policing is the increase in police recruit numbers, which now reflect a much improved gender balance in most states and territories.

The present study sought to present data on a large cohort of police officers around the nation, tracking their career over time. In order for research of this kind to be conducted in the future, all police services will need to revise their human-resources data collections to make tracking of career paths possible.

Already, however, it can be seen from the analysis of the first 15 years of the cohort's service that there are a number of findings of interest and importance. In summary, these include the following:

the differences in sex ratios between states and territories, i.e. in recruitment

sex disparity in the reasons for leaving policing, e.g. higher female medical retirements

differences among the states and territories in time of departure, e.g. some states not having departures for several years while some have them almost immediately

possible higher departure rates for particular sections, e.g. traffic branch

consistency of sections' sex ratios with the original cohort ratio, except in traffic and major crime sections, where there appears to be an over-representation of cohort males.

Wilkinson and Froyland (1996) reported that the potential contribution of carefully selected and well-trained women is enormous. In order to achieve this, strategies need to be developed for both recruitment and subsequent years of service.

In England and Wales, for example, which currently has the same proportion of female police officers as in Australia, the Home Office is undertaking consultations to set targets in the recruitment of female officers (Ford 2008). The aim is to increase the representation of women in policing generally, but also to increase the number of women reaching the most senior ranks.

Efforts are needed beyond the recruitment phase also. In particular, a concerted emphasis and flexible work options that support work-life balance are required in order to foster senior female managers who can serve as mentors for younger female officers. This would ideally lead to a higher proportion of women's achieving the highest ranks as well as positions in specialist areas such as criminal investigations. Over time, this would increase both the range and the quality of services that Australian police could offer the community.

References

All URLs were correct at 20 October 2008

Adams K 2001. Women in senior police management. Report Series no. 138.2. Australasian Centre for Policing Research

Baxter J & Wright EO 2000. The glass ceiling hypothesis: a comparative study of the United States, Sweden, and Australia. Gender & society 14(2): 275-294

Christopherson O & Cotton J 2004. Police service strength in England and Wales, 31 March 2004. Home Office report 13/04. London: Stationery Office

Etter B 1996. Where to from here. Paper presented at the First Australasian Women Police Conference, Sydney, 29-31 July

Ford R 2008. Police may be forced to take more women officers. Times (London) 14 January: 4

Hyman P 2000. Women in the CIB: opportunities for and barriers to the recruitment, progress and retention of women in the Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB). Report commissioned by National Crime Manager, New Zealand Police Strategic Advisor, Human Resources, EEO. Wellington, New Zealand: New Zealand Police

Miller SL 1999. Gender and community policing: walking the talk. Boston, MA: Northeastern University Press

Prenzler T 1995. Equal employment opportunity and policewomen in Australia. Australian and New Zealand journal of criminology 28(3): 258-277

Prenzler T & Hayes H 2000. Measuring progress in gender equity in Australian policing. Current issues in criminal justice 12: 20-38

Silvestri M 2007. 'Doing' police leadership: enter the 'new smart macho'. Policing & society 17(1): 38-58

Van Velsor E & Hughes MW 1990. Gender differences in the development of managers: how women managers learn from experience. Greensboro, North Carolina: Centre for Creative Leadership

Wilkinson V & Froyland ID 1996. Women in policing. Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice no. 58.

About the authors

Rachelle Irving was a Research Analyst at the Australian Institute of Criminology.

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Career trajectories of women in policing in Australia

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At 30 June 2006, 23 percent of Australian police were women, almost double the percentage in 1996. Despite this change, the issues relevant a decade earlier remain today, namely difficulties in recruitment and deployment and the low representation of women within senior ranks.

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https://sadieamanda.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/gender.gif

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Society’s Portrayal of Women through the Media

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Society’s Portrayal of Women through the Media

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Women are often portrayed in the media and on television programs in stereotypical ways. As discussed in the article “Criminal Justice “Hollywood Style”” (DeTardo-Bora, 2009), even the women working in the criminal justice system on TV are stereotyped according to the expectations of the social norms regarding gender roles. Women characters are often “depicted as being dependent, subordinate to authority, and less verbally aggressive” (DeTardo-Bora, 2009).

This can ultimately lead to influence young audiences to develop ideas and beliefs of “what it means to be a man or woman” here in the criminal justice profession (DeTardo-Bora, 2009). This can ultimately lead to the opinion that females do not play the same role or have the same opportunities as males to work and perform in the criminal justice system which is not the case at all.

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In New York discussion surrounds the use of the terms policeman and fireman as being gender specific and relating to the masculinity of the job and overall implying that these jobs are for men. The proposal to implement the terms police officer and fire fighter as gender neural terms is being considered to avoid the exclusion of women in the workforce.

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ALBANY - New York might soon be changing the terms fireman and policeman to more gender-neutral terms.

The state Legislature in recent weeks passed a bill that would change the wording of "fireman" and "policeman" to more gender-neutral terms like "firefighter" and "police officer" in all references in state laws.

The change would be embraced locally, according to area police and fire leaders, with some saying the change is long overdue.

"I think it's a great idea," said Arlington Fire District Chief Tory G. Gallante. "It's just catching up with modern times. It's both a man and a woman's job."

New York has legally allowed female police officers since the early 1900s and the New York City Fire Department hired its first woman firefighter in 1982. Arlington is home to 68 career firefighters and 39 volunteers, including two female volunteers who fill support roles, Gallante said.

The bill would update the wording of "fireman" and "policeman" to be more inclusive of women who also work in the departments. The law would change the wording on all official documents and laws.

"I think it's an appropriate way to acknowledge the fact that, while in years past, the uniformed services were predominantly male, the fact of the matter is that's not the way anymore," said Hyde Park Police Chief Eric Paolilli. "The gender-neutral designation for police officers or firefighters reflects the diversity that is the workforce now."

Paolilli said 2 of the 21 officers in Hyde Park are female.

In 1973, New York gave out its first gender-neutral civil service exam, according to the Policewoman's Endowment Association, an official NYPD organization for women.

Academy director Det. Daren Cummings with Dutchess County Law Enforcement Academy's graduating class. (Photo: Michael Rahilly)

According to the bill, the current use of male pronouns in state laws minimizes the legacy and efforts of female firefighters and police officers.

The bill also notes that, by changing the words to more neutral ones, the jobs will not seem as traditionally male as they once were.

"Women make up an important part of our police force and firehouses, and it's time New York state laws reflect that," Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, D-Bronx, said in a statement Tuesday when the chamber passed the measure. "This updated language demonstrates our respect and appreciation for all of our first responders, regardless of gender."

Capt. Ken Roman of the Town of Poughkeepsie police said his agency has used the term "police officer" for more than two decades.

Roman said using "policeman" or "fireman" can be a matter of self-identity. But he said the change is "necessary. It probably should have been changed years ago."

Out of 80 Town of Poughkeepsie police officers, five are female, Roman said.

The FDNY has 72 female firefighters, the highest number in its history, the department said.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, there are about 58,000 local female police officers in the country, which accounts for about 12 percent of all local police officers.

This number is up from 1987 when there were around 27,000 female police officers that made up 8 percent of local officers.

The bill will now go to Gov. Andrew Cuomo for final approval. His office said it was reviewing the legislation.

Still, the measure didn't sit well with some groups.

Peter Kehoe, executive director of the state Sheriffs' Association, said he opposes the change.

"For thousands of years the term 'man,' used in the general sense, has meant 'human,' not specifically someone of the male gender," he said in a statement. "So it is inaccurate to say that 'policeman' or 'fireman' is 'gendered language' which must be erased from the law."

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'Fireman' or 'policeman': New York may soon go to gender-neutral names

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CLOSE ALBANY - New York might soon be changing the terms fireman and policeman to more gender-neutral terms. The state Legislature in recent weeks passed a bill that would change the wording of "fireman" and "policeman" to more gender-neutral terms like "firefighter" and "police officer" in all references in state laws.

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Men as a group often make it difficult for women to succeed in the more masculine job roles in society, especially those in the criminal justice system. Burdett, Gouliquer, & Poulin (2018) discuss some of the negative attitudes such as double standards of performance, occupational socialisation, the boys club and the devaluing of feminine traits, which women face in the corrections system. “Men correctional officers assume that women lack the mental and physical toughness for the work, and fear they will engage in inappropriate sexual conduct with inmates and demonstrate less respect and credibility” (Burdett, Gouliquer, & Poulin, 2018).

The judgements placed on women such as men perceiving women as “a threat to safety and control because they are physically weaker” (Crouch, 1985) or women having less physical strength than males and bringing their sexuality into the workplace resulting in women being more vulnerable to violence or fostering violence  (Crouch, 1985).

This is similar in the police force. “Policing was seen as requiring symbolic authority and physical force that only males could exercise” (Prenzler & Sinclair, 2013). The stereotypes of the jobs in the police force and corrections are created by society’s view on the gender roles of men and women in everyday life.

Other considerations for women in the workplace especially in the police force are the stereotypical gender roles women are expected to play in their home life, finding it difficult to work longer hours and shift work as required (Irving, 2009).

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Topic 8 - Gender and Criminal Justice Workers  - 889 Words

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Topic 8 - Gender and Criminal Justice Workers  - 889 Words

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Women are highly underrepresented when it comes to working in the criminal justice professions. The gender stereotypes of social roles in society place women as the weaker and more vulnerable sex, and the job roles in the criminal sector are often viewed as masculine and not suitable for women.

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Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety Limited. (2014, May 14). Violence against women: Key statistics. Retrieved from ANROWS: https://www.anrows.org.au/publications/fast-facts-0/violence-against-women-key-statistics%20

Babis, K. (n.d.). http://beiibis.tumblr.com/post/91249883949.

Javaid, A. (2017). In the Shadows: Making Sense of Gay Male Rape Victims' Silence, Suffering and Invisibility. Internationl Journal of Sexual Health, 29(4), 279 - 291.

Merrill, G. S., & Wolfe, V. A. (2000). Battered Gay Men. Journal of Homosexuality, 39(2), 1 - 30. doi:10.1300/J082v39n02_01

Mulroney, J., & Chan, C. (2005). Men as victims of domestic violence. ustralian Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse Topic Paper. Retrieved from http//: www. austdvclearinghouse. unsw. edu. au.

Pino, N. W., & Meier, R. F. (1999). Gender Differences in Rape Reporting. Sex Roles, 40(11/12), 979 - 990.

Trinh, N. (2017, June 9). Male Rapists Are Victims Too! Retrieved from Medium: https://medium.com/gender-theory/male-rapists-are-victims-too-5ba05f643726

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Arrowsmith, N. (2011, March 14). WTH, Katy Perry: E.T. Promotes…Rape? Retrieved from Real Live Me: https://nogender.wordpress.com/2011/03/14/wth-katy-perry-e-t-promotes-rape/

Deming, M. E., Covan, E. K., Swan, S. C., & Billings, D. L. (2013). Exploring rape myths, gendered norms, group processing, and the social context of rape among college women: A qualitative analysis. Violence Against Women, 19(4), 465 - 485. doi:10.1177/1077801213487044

Hurlbert, M. (2013, April 10). The effects of living in a "rape culture". Southern News.

Powell, A., & Webster, K. (2016). Cultures of gendered violence: An integrative review of measures of attitudinal support for violence against women. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 51(1), 40 - 57. doi: 10.1177/0004865816675669

Stavrou, E., Poynton, S., & Weatherburn, D. (2016). Intimate partner violence against women in Australia: related factors and help-seeking behaviours. Crime and Justice Bulletin, 200, 1 - 16.

WAVAW Rape Crisis Centre. (2011). Urban Women’s Anti-Violence Strategy. Retrieved from WAVAW Rape Crisis Centre: http://www.wavaw.ca/campaigns/urban-womens-anti-violence-strategy/

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← This is an artwork created by Katarzyna Babis that aims to increase awareness of violence and rape against men and to encourage them to not be embarrassed to seek help from wider society. The comment "Don't be such a Loser" can be taken as either an insult to men who may need help or a motivational comment to encourage men to get help.

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Men as victims are highly under recognised throughout society. The social pressures and expectations of the masculine gender role results in men who are victimised often being embarrassed or scared to report domestic or sexual violent attacks. Gay male rape is a significant issue where men are blamed for being the victim, similar to the rape myth culture for females. There is often lack of support for men as they are not seen as vicitms in the same way women are, as they are expected to be strong and powerful in normative gender roles of society.

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Plenty of Support for Women - Men are vicitms Too

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Plenty of Support for Women - Men are vicitms Too

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This is a graphic representation comparing Australian rates of domestic violence of women and men. Published by a group that has a “mission is to deliver relevant and translatable research evidence which drives policy and practice leading to a reduction in the levels of violence against women and their children” Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety Limited (ANROWS) publications focus on the fact that rate of reported violence against women is much higher than that for men.
Interestingly there is no mention however, of reporting rates for men vs. women and the lack of reporting of men’s domestic violence. Men are defined as often being the perpetrators not the victims. Men are therefore targeted as the offenders and victimised.
This supports the issue that men are often the forgotten victim, as defined by society's cultural values and beliefs.

https://www.anrows.org.au/publications/fast-facts-0/violence-against-women-key-statistics%20

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Reasons for men staying with an abusive partner are very similar to those of women victims.

Love and hope for change, fear of reprisal, lack of support/help services/knowledge and loneliness are common reasons why a person may remain in a domestic violence relationship. (Merrill & Wolfe, 2000). It is easier sometimes to stay than leave.

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Much more awareness surrounding the occurrence of male victimisation needs to be made and help provided to victims. Ad campaigns like this video are made to show society the differences between the reactions towards female and male domestic violence and how each gender is treated differently. Men and women should be treated equally.

More research is needed to obtain evidence regarding victimisation rates and the prevalence of domestic and sexual violence against men (Mulroney & Chan, 2005). Researching this topic of men as victims shows that there is lack of research into this topic and male reporting of violence and assault is much less than the rates for female reporting.
https://youtu.be/u3PgH86OyEM

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This article "Male Rapists Are Victims Too!" written by a female, has an extreme view on the reasons behind why males may commit violent attacks and states that the perpetrator themselves is the victim from the pressures society has placed on males. The feeling of powerlessness felt by men as they are put under stress to provide as breadwinners encourages them to express their dominance over women. Men perpetrators are now also victims???

https://medium.com/gender-theory/male-rapists-are-victims-too-5ba05f643726

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http://beiibis.tumblr.com/post/91249883949

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Is it all Society's Fault? The Secret of Gay Male Rape 

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Is it all Society's Fault? The Secret of Gay Male Rape 

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Negative attitudes from wider society towards male rape influence the way in which the rape is handled and responded to by not only other people in society, but also police and criminal justice professionals (Javaid, 2017). Getting help, support and justice is usually difficult for male victims. (Javaid, 2017)

Men as victims’ often go more unnoticed than women victims. The ideal concept of the hegemonic male ideology expected by society puts a lot of pressure on men to act and be perceived as tough and masculine and are therefore reluctant to admit if they are a victim of domestic or sexual assault. Being victimised as a man results in “making one feel powerless, inadequate, and emasculated” (Javaid, 2017).

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"According to a review of police statistics domestic violence constituted 19.3 per cent of all forms of violence against females and 1.5 per cent of violence against men" (Mulroney & Chan, 2005). How accurate are these statistics as reporting rates vary significantly throughout society?

Women and men often do not report rape or other forms of assault for different reasons. The gender role expectations placed on men by society enforce the fact that it is unmanly to express emotions or show signs of weakness, “Male victims may experience being raped as even more humiliating than female victims” (Pino & Meier, 1999). The article "Gender Differences in Rape Reporting" by Pino and Meier (1999) explains the differences in male vs. female rape reporting and the reasons behind the gap in reporting rates between the sexes.
"Commonly men are embarrassed"
(Mulroney & Chan, 2005).

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Without realising everyday people are subjected to media stories, advertising campaigns, TV programs and music that objectifies both men and women, supports violence against both men and women. This often discourages victims of violent attacks and sexual assaults from reporting crimes, as they believe they are over reacting according to society’s normative beliefs.

Campaigns to raise awareness  this violence are used to show that there is support and hep services for victims

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Society’s values and beliefs often lead to the development of social opinions that lead to the trivialisation of rape and assault against women in general. This in turn leads to underreporting of assault and rapes against women as they believe they will be dismissed or branded as liars or the man involved will be excused. Is it worth reporting if the criminal justice system is not going to respond fairly anyway?  (Deming, Covan, Swan, & Billings, 2013)

Rape myths: It’s all the woman’s fault.

Comments regarding the cause of rape often include statements like “she asked for it,” “it wasn’t really rape,” “he didn’t mean to do it,” “she wanted it,” or “she lied” (Deming, Covan, Swan, & Billings, 2013).

The image below found as a meme on Facebook is a statement that can be taken as a serious insult to women victims of sexual harassment and violence, indicating that it is their fault. On the other hand a light-hearted view may dismiss this with people seeing it as a statement on the lack of clothing women wear out in public. It all depends on the opinion of the reader.

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Katy Perry encouraging violence against women. 

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Katy Perry encouraging violence against women. 

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Even in pop music targeted for young girls, rape culture is being subliminally represented.  Katy Perry songs even have messages about sex and rape even when they are targeted for girls often aged between 10 and 15. A lot of rap songs contain messages about sex and rape, however a pop singer like Katy Perry is a role model for young women and promoting this promiscuous behaviour is allowing women to be objectified and violence against women become an acceptable norm in society.

The lyrics to the song E.T by Katy Perry are explained in the article "WTH, Katy Perry: E.T. Promotes…Rape?" (link below) by Niki Arrowsmith and surprisingly have strong references to sexual violence.

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Sometime, I feel like I'm singing a one-note samba: Rape culture, rape culture, rape culture. But not one day goes by without me being joltingly reminded that people treat rape like a joke, minimize it, and shrug it off which leads to more and more subversive and violent attacks on women.

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http://www.wavaw.ca/campaigns/urban-womens-anti-violence-strategy/
This campaign from Canada, the Urban Women’s Anti-Violence Strategy (UWAS), is just one example that uses graphic images to promote awareness of the violence against women and encourage people to treat this as a serious matter in today’s society.

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How Many Victims are Actually out there?

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How Many Victims are Actually out there?

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It is not surprising to read these statistics:

“Of the 469 most recent incidents of physical or sexual assault in the last two years perpetrated by an intimate partner, less than one in three incidents were reported to the police” (Stavrou, Poynton, & Weatherburn, 2016).

It shows that the culture surrounding men’s use of violence towards women is one where women don’t feel they have support by justice professionals or are believe they are unable to obtain help and feel they are highly judged by society when it comes to victim blaming. This shows that there is a lack of support for violence against women.

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"Violence Supportive Attitudes"  Powell and Webster (2016)

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"Violence Supportive Attitudes"  Powell and Webster (2016)

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As discussed by Powell and Webster 2016) violence supportive attitudes are prevalent in today's society and are becoming the social norm. They define this as being able to:

“Justify , excuse, minimise or trivialise physical, sexual and other forms of violence against women, or blame or hold women at least partly responsible for violence perpetrated against them”
These attitudes are making it difficult for women to report violence committed against them or for the perpetrators to receive the punishment they deserve.

"Minimise, blame and deny" are the three main attitudes underlying the culture supporting men's use of violence against women (Powell and Webster, 2016).

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Sexual Culture acceptable in Today's Society?

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Sexual Culture acceptable in Today's Society?

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Media portrayal does not help as it greatly influences social beliefs and perceptions.

Advertising often objectifies women and sexuality.

Pop culture supports sexual objectification of women. This article "The effects of living in a  “rape culture”" by Mackenzie Hurlbert discusses the trivialisation of this in everyday media and pop culture. It is interesting that people often view programs or advertisements without thinking about this issue and how violence against women or sexual objectification is being portrayed especially in extremely popular shows such as Jersey Shore. Even in advertisements for burgers as in the image.

https://thesouthernnews.org/2013/04/10/the-effects-of-living-in-a-rape-culture/

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Women as victims are more prevalent than men and often attitudes towards women victims trivialise the act of violence or blame the victim for the occurrence of a violent or sexual assault. The social values that are accepted as the norm allow for men's violence against women to become portrayed as an insignificant matter and is often used for entertainment purposes in music, television, advertising and media in general.