MoRose+Myrtle

**Abstract** This paper talks about discriminations against women on the police force. It examines several different aspects of the job and discrimination and uses several studies to do so. It covers why women choose the profession by interviewing college students. It shows college students attitudes towards female officers. It shows how women are depicted in 10 different TV crime dramas. And finally the paper talks about the harassment and consequences of it towards the female officers. **Women as Police Officers and The Discrimination Against Them** Women have a tough time as police officers. It takes a certain type of woman to become a police officer. Not only do they have to endure sexist remarks and situations, they also have to overcome the stereotypes portrayed on TV. In this paper I plan to discuss why some women choose this profession, attitudes towards women police officers, how women police officers are depicted in TV, and what women police officers go through while on duty and off duty. To completely understand all of these things, we must first know why females choose to become police officers. Women make up only eleven percent of all sworn in officers (Yim, 2009). This shows what little amount of HOW FEW women become police officers. They must have the right reasons for choosing to become a police officer. Women have very different reasons for choosing to be a police officer than men do. Women are more interested in helping others where men are more interested with the money and status (Yim, 2009). Women are more intent of ON helping and bettering the community where men are CAN BE? more focused on themselves. Men seem to see themselves as more competent and more capable of fulfilling the role of police officer (Yim, 2009). (This is a pretty strong statement. I'd make a point of saying that Yim believes this, and I would use worlds like "seem to be" to soften it. Be sure this really is what Yim said, though.) They tend to believe that being a police officer is a man’s job. They are more confident in themselves in being able to do what the job calls for them to do. This shows true THIS ARGUMENT IS SUPPORTED BY the percentage of women who choose other criminal justice jobs over a police officer. Out of 121 women surveyed, only 28 chose law enforcement. The rest chose jobs in other areas of the criminal justice system (Yim, 2009). Now that we know why some women choose to be police officers, let’s look at some attitudes that college students have towards female police officers. Society is socialized to believe that a police officer is to be a male (Wesley et al., 2009). Just cite this once, at the end of the paragraph. This causes many problems for women who wish to become police officers. A person’s education level and age has an effect on how they view women police officers (Wesley et al., 2009). College students tended to have favorable attitudes towards female police officers. The study shows that there was a significant support for women in policing from the feminist community (Wesley et al., 2009). Younger students tended to be more supportive as well (Wesley et al., 2009). Once feminism was controlled for, (EXPLAIN HOW THIS WAS DONE) the gender difference in supported SUPPORT disappeared (Wesley et al., 2009). This means that men and women have closely related opinions about women in the police force. (THIS ALSO NEEDS MORE EXPLANATION) The study also showed that criminal justice majors were more supportive and THAN? non criminal justice majors (Wesley et al., 2009). This is important to consider because these are the opinions that women will have to face during the job. Now that we have looked at what the attitudes are towards women in the police force, let us look at how women are portrayed on TV. TV has a big impact on how many people see the criminal justice system. Based on a study of 10 TV crime dramas, the average female officer was portrayed as a white woman in her 30’s with dark colored hair. They were most often single and a good portion of them at least had a college degree, if not a master’s degree (DeTardo, 2009). To me this seems very probable, but (according to DeTardo??) more than half of these characters were dressed provocatively. (DeTardo also demonstrates that) Women were also shown to be more passive, emotionally involved with the cases, promiscuous, and flirtatious (DeTardo, 2009). Overall, women were portrayed in a positive way in the TV crime dramas. Hopefully this leads to more support for women in these roles. By seeing women portrayed positively on TV in these roles, more young females may be empowered to pursue these career choices and make seeing a female officer less rare. Now that we know what happens on TV, there is a bit of information about consequences of being female officers while on the job and at home. Female officers have a tough time at work, but also have to go home and be good mothers. While working, female officers have to endure sexual misconduct from their fellow male officers. “Much research suggests that women in male-dominated professions are more likely to be harassed than their counterparts in other fields” (Maher, 2010). “69 to 77 (Don't begin a sentence with a number, write it out) percent of women in male-dominated professions have been harassed” (Maher, 2010). This is definitely the majority and not something that should be just ignored. Unfortunately, this is the norm for these women because they are in a position that is a “man’s job”. One study showed that 75 percent of their sample had been sexually harassed but only about 12 percent ever reported it (Maher, 2010). The punishment for the male officers who were reported was insignificant and the female officers were then treated rudely by the rest of the male officers (Maher, 2010). With these types of results after reporting sexual harassment, it is clear why more female officers do not make complaints about the incidents. Unlike what most male officers would think, professionalism, job satisfaction, and stress levels for female officers are just about the same as those levels for male officers (Carlan at al., 2009). The only main difference that was found between the male and female officers was that female officers were more reluctant to share fears and anxieties with fellow officers (Carlan at al., 2009). This may have to do with the fact that they are already seen as not suitable for the job and they do not want to appear weak. Women also have a higher rate of needing counseling (Carlan at al., 2009). This may be due to the fact that they are not able to share their fears and anxieties with their coworkers and need somewhere that they can without being harassed. Overall, women have a long way to go if they ever want to be seen as equals in the police force. They endure sexual harassment and stereotypes. Even so, many young female choose this profession and go on to be successful competitors in the field. They overcome the harassment and push forward. TV depictions of them have become better in recent years, but still show them as weaker than the males’ characters. (Proof?) All of this plus the attitudes towards female officers is different than how they really are. They are just as good at their job as any male officer. They are strong mentally and physically and can do anything that a male officer can. So why is there all of the discrimination? Hopefully someday men can see past the “brotherhood” of policing and figure out that it does not hurt to have some women around to help out. References look here for formatting rules: [] Carlan, Philip E. and McMullan, Elizabeth C .(2009) 'A Contemporary Snapshot of Policewomen's Attitudes' ITALICS FOR TITLES OF ARTICLES, Women & Criminal Justice, 19: 1, 60 — 79 DeTardo-Bora, Kimberly A.(2009) 'Criminal Justice “Hollywood Style”: How Women in Criminal Justice Professions Are Depicted in Prime-Time Crime Dramas', Women & Criminal Justice, 19: 2, 153 — 168 Maher, Timothy M.(2010) 'Police Sexual Misconduct: Female Police Officers' Views Regarding Its Nature and Extent', Women & Criminal Justice, 20: 3, 263 — 282 Wesley Haba, Calvin, Sarver III, Robert A. , Dobbs, Rhonda R. and Sarver, Mary B.(2009) 'Attitudes of College Students Toward Women in Policing', Women & Criminal Justice, 19: 3, 235 — 250 Yim, Youngyol(2009). 'Girls, Why Do You Want to Become Police Officers? Career Goals/Choices Among Criminal Justice Undergraduates', Women & Criminal Justice, 19: 2, 120 — 136
 * Women as Police Officers and The Discrimination Against Them**