Discrimination against Women in the United States Police Force - Essay Example

Discrimination against women in the United s Police force Discrimination against women in the United s Police force Discrimination in various forms against women is a hotly debated subject all over the world. Even the most civilized country in the world; America is not free from the accusations of discriminations against women. Male domination is visible in every segment of social and professional life in America and the cases in American police force are also not different. American police force is infamous for women discrimination compared to the police forces in other countries. According to Barbara Raffel Price (1996), “In the United States police departments must hire people without regard to race or gender. However, in policing, gender integration and the opportunity for women to participate in forming police policy has been strongly resisted” (Price, 1996). Discriminations in all forms were prohibited by law in America. However, the custodians of law or the law implementers itself are the major culprits in breaking laws as far as women discrimination in police forces in America are concerned. This paper analyses the discrimination against women in the United States police force. Acceptance of policewomen by policemen The following table gives a brief idea of acceptance of policewomen by police men at various parts of the world. Levels of Eastern Europe Western Europe Britain USA Acceptance % % % % Accepted by all 28 16 17 6 Policemen Accepted by 57 72 59 61 Most policemen Accepted by 7 7 16 20 Some policemen Accepted by few 7 4 3 9 Policemen Accepted by no 0 1 1 3 Policemen (Brown, 1996) From the above table, it is evident that policewomen acceptance by all policemen in America is extremely low compared to that in other parts of the world. In other words, American policewomen are suffering huge discrimination compared to policewomen in other parts of the world. American policemen do not keep a positive attitude towards policewomen. “Male officers anticipate women failing; they doubt women can equal men in most job skills; they do not see women officers as doing "real" police work; and they perpetuate myths about womens lack of emotional fitness” (Price, 1996). Even before giving an opportunity to the policewomen to prove their abilities, male police officers in America rate them as inferior to policemen. Thus American policewomen do not get enough opportunities to prove their credentials because of the negative attitudes of the superior male officers. Many of the superior male police officers have the illusion that the role of policewomen is to assist policemen rather than participate in the actual policing work. Just like a woman doing a secretary post in an organization, policewomen in America forced to do secretarial jobs. Not only in job allocation, but also in promotion, deployment, training and overtime works, American policewomen suffering lot of discriminations. The following table provides a rough idea about these discriminations suffered by American police women compared to other policewomen in other parts of the world. Reported discrimination by policewomen Areas of Eastern Europe Western Europe Britain USA Discrimination % % % % Promotion 14 26 18 45 Deployment 28 29 55 60 Training 14 24 25 47 Overtime 114 37 19 19 (Brown, 1996) From the above table, it is evident that 45% of American policewomen are suffering discriminations related to promotion whereas policewomen in other parts of the world are suffering comparatively less discriminations with respect to promotions. In the case of deployment and training also, American policewomen suffering a lot compared to other policewomen. It should be noted that American policewomen are getting less training even though the policemen are getting best training in the world. In other words, American police force is not at all giving any importance to the contributions to the policewomen. In their opinion, policewomen are only supporting staff and therefore they need less training. Fuller (2006) pointed out a case in which “a policewoman who was prevented from working flexible hours after returning from maternity leave has won £93,000 for sex discrimination” (Fuller, 2006). Such discriminations in work allotments are common in American police force. It should be noted that a substantial portion of the policewomen in America are from black community. Discriminations against black community are still common in America even though legally, it is prohibited. Even though a person with black origin (Obama) is successful in becoming American president, harassments and discriminations against black community are still going on. American police force is mostly infamous for such gender and caste based discrimination. Cole & Smith (2009) mentioned the statistics of a survey to prove the displeasure of male police officers in appointing policewomen in critical areas of policing. “IACP survey found that 25 percent of top law enforcement officers expressed concerns that female officers could not handle physical conflicts” (Cole & Smith, 2009, p.206). These findings sum up the general moods of male officers in American police towards female policewomen. Twenty years of exhaustive research demonstrates that women police officers utilize a style of policing that relies less on physical force, and more on communication skills that defuse potentially violent situations. Yet despite this compelling research, women are severely under-represented in police departments, accounting for only 13.0% of police officers across the country. The numbers of women in law enforcement are kept artificially low by widespread discriminatory hiring and selection practices. Keeping women out of policing is not only depriving women of jobs, but is resulting in more police brutality (National Center for Women & Policing, 2009). The above statistics clearly suggest that the utility of policewomen in America is similar to that of the policemen. Yet, while taking decisions about promotions and recruitments, women are getting fewer acceptances than men. In fact many of the American policemen are not ready to work under women because of their superiority complex. So, they will do everything possible to deny the deserving promotions to policewomen. It should be noted that discipline is one of the most required quality in police forces. It is difficult for the policemen to take orders from women officers or getting punished by the women officers as part of enforcing discipline. “Research has shown that sexual harassment is much more likely in male-dominated workplaces, especially in fields that have traditionally been considered masculine” (Do et al. 2005, p.24). Police force is considered to be masculine field and therefore sexual harassments are taking place frequently against policewomen. It is difficult for the policewomen to complain about such things since the offenders have the authority to punish them on disciplinary terms. “Research has shown that policewomen face more resistance from male counterparts in departments where they make up a small percentage of the force” (Do et al. 2005, p.24). It should be noted that American police force is dominated by men and the chances of harassing policewomen is more. O’Brien (2010) mentioned that “A female Syracuse police officer stands to receive $400,000 over her sexual discrimination lawsuit. The jury found the police department retaliated against Officer Katherine Lee and had a policy, custom and practice of retaliating against workers who complained about discrimination” (O’Brien, 2010). Conclusions American policewomen are facing lot of discrimination with respect to gender, sex, caste, promotion, deployment, training, work schedule etc. majority of the male police officers do not have faith in the abilities of women police and they often prevent promotions of women police. Most of the police men do not like to work under women police officers because of their superiority complex. Since a substantial portion of the American policewomen are from black community, caste based discrimination is also prominent in American police force. References Briwn, J. (1996). Integrating women into policing: a comparative European perspective. Policing In Central And Eastern Europe. Retrieved from https://www.ncjrs.gov/policing/int627.htm Cole, G. & Smith, C. (2009). The American System of Criminal Justice, International Edition. Cengage Learning, 04-Feb-2009 Do, M.L., Schmitt, W.L., Styles, J.L., Wang, H.C., Wincek, Z.J. & Zeddies, A.E. (2005). Reducing Sexual Harassment and Gender Discrimination. Retrieved from http://www.lafollette.wisc.edu/publications/workshops/2004-2005/mexicoharass.pdf Fuller, G. (2006). Hertfordshire Police faces £93,000 sex discrimination payout over inflexible attitude to female officer. Personnel Today. Retrieved from http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2006/06/27/36075/hertfordshire-police-faces-93000-sex-discrimination-payout-over-inflexible-attitude-to-female.html National Center for Women & Policing. (2009). Retrieved from http://womenandpolicing.com/ O’Brien, J. (2010). Syracuse police officer to receive $400K in sexual discrimination suit. Retrieved from http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/03/jury_awards_syracuse_police_of.html Price, B.R. (1996). Female Police Officers In The United States. Policing In Central And Eastern Europe. Retrieved from https://www.ncjrs.gov/policing/fem635.htm Read More