Gender Discrimination and Stress among Female Police Officers - Research Paper Example

 Gender Discrimination and Stress among Female Police Officers Introduction The research problem of this paper is the gender discrimination and stress among the female police officers. This paper describes the gender differences among the officers and the problems they face in their department. When compared to other departments in the government, police department has lesser number of female employees. This research aims at portraying the problems that female officers come across when compared to their male counterparts. Though various studies have been conducted on this issue, this research concentrates on the way in which female officers are treated in this department. Male officers are the ones who are given more exposure and they are given full freedom to do whatever they want. This research covers the various aspects of a female officer’s part in the department. People generally believe that female officers do not possess much knowledge and are not capable when compared to male officers. Though many literatures and researches have been proposed on this field, this paper will highlight the unseen aspects of the police department. In the past, the ratio of female police officers was less when compared to that of men. Years passed by and people started selecting this as their profession. Most of the studies reveal that the numbers of female officials have gradually increased when compared to the past. This is certainly a positive sign and this clearly shows that women are ready to work with such stressful profession. Though this has been a welcoming change, the levels of dominance by the male workers have not reduced. Due to this factor, the recognition and level of improvement in their career gradually goes down. The ratio of female police officers is around 12 percent in urban areas and the ratio is less in rural parts of the country. The problems faced by the female officers have led to a situation where people have a second thought of opting this as their career. Another major problem in this field is the level of stress a person undergoes. The purpose of this study is to explain the problems and differences among the female police officers. The importance of this study is to reveal the difficulties that female officers go through in this department. The research questions include what is the reason for gender discrimination, how are female officers treated in this department and the level of stress among the female officers. The reason for gender discrimination is clearly exhibited using various studies and researches. Literature Review Many researches and studies have been conducted on this topic and most of them agree that gender differences prevail among the female employees. Though certain studies exhibit a different opinion and idea about this issue, the truth is that female police officers are not treated on par with male officers. Stress levels are generally high for police officers when compared to the employees of other departments. They are exposed to more stressful activities and the type of stress depends on their work. The day to day work and the events that occur in their work creates more stress since they are psychologically and physically affected by such activities. This becomes a routine and they get stressed out very easily.(Kenneth and Arai, 2006). Another type of stress occurs due to exposure to danger and other violent activities. These incidents affect them psychologically and this in turn makes them mentally tired. The decision making activities contribute to their stress. Police officers are more prone to such situations in which they have to decide about critical problems. All this makes them more vulnerable to stress and its related problems. Psychological problems are more since they are involved in the process of investigating criminal activities and offences. In certain cases, the officers have to work hard to investigate and this worsens their situation resulting in higher stress levels. Another reason for the increase in stress levels is the salary. (Lonsway, 2006). The people working in the police department are generally provided with poor wages which contributes to the stress. Their salary levels are increased very rarely and they find it difficult to make their living. But their level of work is comparatively more and the higher officials expect their subordinates to work day and night. This poses greater difficulty to most of the employees since they are not provided with proper training. The training provided to the police officers is insufficient and in most of the cases they find it difficult to continue with the task allotted to them. The reason for insufficient training is the in adequate availability of required equipments. The equipments needed to provide training to the officials are not provided by the government. This in turn makes the task of training a tedious task. Due to this factor, most of the police officers lack in their responsibilities. In spite of all this, the officers are forced to spend more time in the office and their works are generally shift based. Weekend duty is also a major problem and they are not provided with any additional benefits for weekend duties. This certainly increases the stress as they are not provided with a good salary in spite of their extended work hours. All these factors increase their stress levels and this clearly explains that police officers are more prone to stress. Male officers can tolerate and manage this sort of work and stressful activities. When it comes to female officers, they level of tolerance decreases. They find it hard to cope up with such work related problems. (Sklansky, 2006). This in turn increases their level of stress there by creating an aversion towards their work. The promotional opportunities are invariably less for the female officers when compared to that of male officers. In most of the promotional offers, female officers are not considered and the opportunity immediately moves on to a male officer even if they are not qualified enough to work in that particular position. Even if the female officers are more qualified and they are capable enough to handle such positions, they are not given preference and this contributes to more stress. The main reason for not considering female officers for promotion is that, they are not supported by administrative officers. Female officers lack administrative support since they do not maintain a cordial relationship with their fellow colleagues, where as male officials maintain a very good relationship with their colleagues and administrative officers and hence they prefer these male candidates. (Hassell, 2009). The past findings on this research are not consistent. Certain researchers’ emphasize on the fact that female officers are discriminated while some researchers and scholars do not agree with this concept. These researchers feel that female officials are treated equally as men officials and they are provided with all the facilities. They also express that female officers are given equal opportunities and it entirely depends on the employee’s capability and capacity to handle problems in this sort of a job. The opinion of each researcher differs and the basis for all this depends on the way how they perceive the difference among the male and female police officers. There are certain problems with the methods and implementation procedures of existing research. Most of these existing researches concentrate more on the way in which female officials are treated in this department. Instead they should have concentrated on the problems that female officers go through in their service period. They should have suggested remedies as to how female officials can overcome this problematic situation. The basis of a study is to reveal the facts and problems that occur in a particular department. It should provide the readers with a compete outlook on the particular topic instead of giving them an idea as to how people work in these departments. Gender discrimination prevailed in almost all the countries. Time passed by and people realized that gender difference is no more an issue. Though most of the countries have improved, certain countries still continue to follow the procedure of giving importance and prominence to men. The society still continues to be a male dominated one and female are not given opportunities in most of the governmental departments. (Darensburg, 2006).Police officers fell as victims to these problems and they strive hard to achieve what they dreamt in their career. This research fits in to the exiting researches and studies about gender discrimination since this agrees with the fact that gender discrimination prevails in this department. The main concept of this study is to emphasize the fact that female officials are prone to more stress than male officials. Gender discrimination forms a part of this male dominated society where men are given more prominence in most of the fields. Similar to this, the police officers try to have an upper hand on their employees there by providing them with absolutely no freedom. Female officers go through a tough time in working with these officers. In most of the cases, female officers are prone to sexual harassment from their colleagues. As the female officials do not have much support from the administrative side of the department, they are not given a chance to express their problems. Due to this factor, they are put in a situation where they are unable to reveal any of the truths regarding their department and happenings in their department. This increases their level of stress and most of them find it difficult to continue their jobs. Though the percentage of female employees in the law and order department has increased when compared to the past, they are not given due respect and opportunities. The hypotheses of this study, the gender discrimination is prevalent and stress levels of female officers are more than male officers are clearly exhibited in this study. A study conducted by popular researchers reveal that gender harassment and discrimination has been a common element of police department. Their study also emphasized on the misconception of the fact that police work is defined for men and women are not preferred. Most of the authors expressed that this notion is not correct and women must be given an opportunity to work in the law and order department. Gender harassment will certainly contribute to higher levels of stress and this in turn will lead to job dissatisfaction. Any department should be unbiased and they should not give importance to any one gender. But in police work, the situation is completely different. The biased behavior of higher officials contributes to the existing problems. These officers behave in a different way when it comes to a female employee and exhibit a completely different kind of attitude when a male employee is considered. In this way the female officers are deprived of their rights and other official benefits like promotions and grade improvements. (Zhao, 2006).This in turn affects the career of a female employee. Even if they are equally qualified and capable, male officers are given the first preference. A study was conducted by an official gives a complete outlook on the status of women in the law and enforcement department. The study which was accompanied by a survey revealed the fact that female employees in the law enforcement agencies have increased but the barriers in their departments still continues. Women play a critical role in the development and implementation of law and its standards. Since the employment of women in the department of law there has been a drastic increase in the numbers of women opting for these sorts of jobs. Though this continued for several years, years 2000 and 2001 saw a sudden decline in the numbers of female officers in the police department. This proves that there are certain barriers in a female police officer’s life and these hurdles continue to exist even after years of independence and freedom. The major barriers include gender discrimination, non-supportive administration and sexual harassment. From these concepts once can easily understand the reason for decline in the female officers. The other reasons include stress and mediocre promotions and biased behavior of the officers towards the female officers. (Vega, 1982). Law and order department is composed of criminal cases, offences and investigations. Female officers are generally not given much preference when it comes to criminal investigations. The male officers would like to dominate them by refraining them from these issues. Due to this, the female officers are deprived of opportunities where they can learn and improve in their career. The career advancement and job satisfaction becomes a matter of concern and female officers often do not experience equal level of job satisfaction like the male officers do. A number of studies confirm that job dissatisfaction and gender discrimination contribute to higher levels of stress. The behavior of male officers towards their colleagues is not in a favorable manner. This study aims at revealing the unknown facts of the police department and this will certainly fill the gap in the existing literatures. It contributes to the future studies in this field by providing information on the problems faced by the female officers. Methodology A study must be accompanied by surveys and researches that prove the hypothesis of a particular study. To test a hypothesis, a survey must be conducted to analyze the various proposals of a study. To accomplish this task, a method must be followed. This method must define the steps as to how the research must be conducted. The method consists of a research design that decides whether the study is longitudinal or cross sectional. This study is longitudinal since it follows a single concept of identifying the gender discriminations and stress among the female police officers. I will conduct a survey that would reveal the exact information about the happenings in the law and order department. Then an analysis of the existing data must be carried out to check whether the survey has revealed the intended facts. Before conducting a survey, the existing data must is referred. (Worden, 1993). This is done to get an idea about the situation of the department. Then the requirements of the survey are specified and collected. “The intimation letter described the purpose and procedure for the survey and emphasized the importance of candor in responding. Employees were informed that the results of the survey would be used to guide the efforts toward improving the policies and practices of the department” (Lonsway, 2006). The survey will be conducted among the employee of the police department. Since the information results of the survey would be used for the improvement and development of the employees, it included the various aspects of the law and order department. The information is acquired from the employees and they express their opinions as answers to the provided questionnaires. The samples for the survey will be collected from the officials. Questionnaires will be provided to each of the officers and they will be provided with varied options out of which they can select the relevant option. The selection of the primary sample was done and it included almost all the officers. The officials who were selected for this survey were intimated of this procedure. The officials included both men and women, but the ratio of women was considerably less when compared to that of men. They were given proper instruction regarding the procedure and they were provided with complete information about the survey. The officials were divided into groups so that the process will be easier. They were given a brief introduction about the purpose of this study and survey. They were explained about the procedure and the intended aim of the study. The officials were randomly selected and they questionnaires were handed over to them. Most of the officials completed it within a short time while some people continued it for a longer time. The sampling technique used in this survey is random technique. When compared to the other techniques like selective and convenient, random yields wider results since the officers do not belong to the same category. The main reason for selecting this technique is that it would help to get results from all sorts of employees. The survey included around 80women and 300 men. These officials were selected in random fashion. The data collection was done on a private place regarding which the officials were informed well in advance. Once the introduction was over, they were directed to a separate place where they were provided with the questionnaires. The data collection took about an hour and the results were collected and segregated as reports based on the type of results. The date and time of data collection were decided well in advance so that the officials can make themselves free to attend the survey. This paved the way for easy data collection. The questionnaire was divided into many parts which included personal as well as personal questions. The survey aimed at assessing the various behaviors, problems and issue related to organizational practices and policies. Measurement The measurements used in this study include both independent and dependent variables. The independent variables were used for the purpose of ascertaining the gender discrimination and this was used to examine the various perceptions depending on this problem. The officials involved in the survey were given options like agree, strongly agree, disagree and strongly disagree. The common questions like gender related promotion related questions formed a part of the questionnaire. The dependent variables include stress factors that assess the psychological and physical aspects of the police officers. The average range of these variables was defined at the beginning stage of the variables evaluation. The study included various control variables that decide the final result of the survey. The control variables like work related variables included the work related problems and issues. Other variables included social support variables that define the social issues and problems. “Several control variables are employed, which comprise demographic, work-related and social support variables. Demographic variables include race, education, age and marital status and military background. Work-related variables include current rank, number of years on police force and contact with suspects”. (Dowler, 2006). The survey instruments include well being of the employee, official policies and regulations, organizational practices and attitude of the employee towards the higher officials. The attitude and the behavior they exhibit at the work place were also taken into consideration. The main instruments used in the process of data collection were a survey that was conducted among the officials. This survey was conducted with the help of a questionnaire and a data record that had information about the previous records and surveys. The people involved in the survey were expected to be honest and straight forward in their answers. The reason for such an expectation was to propose methods and ideas that would improve the existing problems in the department. References Kenneth, D., & Arai, Bruce. (2006). Stress, Gender and Policing: The Impact of Perceived Gender Discrimination on Symptoms on Stress. Lonsway, K. (2006). The Progress of Women in One Large Law Enforcement Agency. Women and Criminal Justice, 18(2). Sklansky, D. (2006). Not For Your Father’s Police Department: Making Sense of the New Demographics of Law Enforcement. Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology, 96(3). Hassell, K. (2009). The Role of Race, Sex and Sexual Orientation: An Examination of Workplace Experiences of Police Patrol Officers. Police Quarterly, 12(4). Darensburg, T. (2006). Gender and Age Differences in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Depression. Traumatology, 12(2). Zhao, J. (2006). Longitudinal Analysis of Factors Associated with Hiring of Female Pursuing Gender Diversity. Police Quarterly, 9 (6). Vega, M. (1982). Female Officers as Viewed By Their Male Counterparts. Police Studies, 5. Worden, R. (1993). Police Officers’ Belief Systems: A Framework for Analysis. American Journal of Police, 14 (1). 49-81. Read More