Stressors Faced by Female Police Officers - Term Paper Example

STRESSORS FACED BY FEMALE POLICE OFFICERS The work of female police officers is stressful both on and off duty. They are in constant exposure to violence and traumatic incidents while on duty. They also face the disapproval of their contemporaries and supervisors while working in a male dominated occupation. They constantly have to battle with the work load and family responsibilities. Female police officers are not that well accepted in their profession and often face negative opinion about their effectiveness and their professional abilities. This kind of job and emotional stressors affect their personal and family life because most of the times they cannot share their problems with their spouse and partners. The stress and strain day in and day out may result in broken families and relationships. It can also cause depression, anxiety and mental ill-health. Ever since the creation of the Law Enforcement Administration in 1968, tremendous amount of research on policing, police departments and police officers in the United States, has been carried out. Examining the effects of service, work and gender activities of the perception of officers of the workplace and their general work world, revealed that this perception is closely related to what they do than who they are ( Winfree, Jr. Guiterman & Mays, 1997). Police work tends to be regarded as inherently stressful because of the personal risk of being exposed to violence, confrontation, and the day to day involvement in various traumatic incidents. The stress faced by the police officers has been referred to as the "police paradox" (Cullen et. al. 1983) because both the safe and unsafe aspects of the job combine to produce the stress symptoms. Work Stressors Policing is considered to be a highly stressful job especially for female police officers, who are caught up between the increasing threats of violence on our streets. In a research focusing on the workplace stress problems for both men and women in the police force, a survey carried out in 25 departments revealed that although both men and women experienced many similar problems, the gendered nature of the police organizations cause unique stresses for women (Morash & Haarr, 1995). Work stress is observed to be associated with depression, anxiety, post traumatic stress symptoms and chronic back pain (Gershon, Lin & Li Xianbin, 2002). They also assessed that work characterized stress, coping strategies and health related outcomes from a sample of police officers aged 50. The findings suggested that older officers especially the female police officers are at an increasing risk of being subjected to work stress related health problems, if they rely on risky health behaviors in order to cope with stress. Although both the male and the female police officers are exposed to relatively the same types of work stressors, but the female officers report higher rates of sex discrimination and prejudice which contributes to psychological distress. Another work stressor to be taken into consideration is that there are more chances of the female police officers and detectives to be involved with sexual offenders or victims of violence. This causes higher levels of self-perceived stress in females than faced by male police officers (Brown & Fielding, 1993). The results also showed that uniformed women constables were less likely to be exposed to police operational stressors which involved the chances for violence, but in case of such exposure, the reactions reported by female officers were brutal than those from uniformed policemen. In addition to that the organizational issues such as the demands of work intruding upon the life at home, lack of communication and consultation, lack of control over the workload, insufficient support and excess of workload in general; are major work stressors. It is also observed that both personal and occupational stressors in female police officers from personality constraints appeared to be more stress-prone. All these stressors are symptoms of psychological and mental ill-health. Gender Discrimination Women police officers are faced with a unique set of challenges which are never faced by their male counterparts. The first women to be appointed as police officers were not exactly welcomed with open arms by the male officers. According to Kirshman (2006), "Women make up nearly ten percent of today's police force, but only three percent of the administration ranks over sergeant." (p. 197). The males consistently express negative opinions about the effectiveness, the ability and even their presence in the police force. Still these brave officers choose to make a life for themselves with their male contemporaries and encounter hurdles that are excruciatingly difficult to overcome. Gender bias is a common feature of the law enforcement agency. The satisfaction of ones job is associated with several individual and organizational outcomes. Job contentment has positive effects on the emotional and psychological well being of the female officers. Occupational stressors are not most of the times specific to policing. In a cross-sectional questionnaire survey of 1206 police officers performed to assess levels of strain associated with home and work stressors revealed that high scoring groups of General Health Questionnaire identified stressors associated mostly with mental ill-health effects (Collins & Gibbs, 2003). With issues related to gender in the male dominated profession of law enforcement, another study was carried out with 52 female officers, matched with 52 male police officers of a state highway patrol agency. The participants completed an assessment related to their physical symptoms, daily hassles, work satisfaction, aspects of burnout and perceived stress. The results showed that with female officers, physical symptoms were associated with perceived stress, dissatisfaction with co-workers, dissatisfaction with the nature of work and feelings of emotional exhaustion. The study also showed the gender differences in terms of the greater expectations the officers had; from the women police officers ( Norvell, Hills & Murrin, 1993). Brown and Fielding (1993) conducted a study related to gender differences in exposure to sources of adverse consequences and occupational stress. The research included 358 male and 139 female police constables engaged in detective duties or uniformed patrol from a large provincial English police force.. Stressors were divided into those arising from organizational and management issues and those which resulted from police operational duties. The results revealed that uniformed women constables were less likely to be exposed to police operational stressors but more likely to be involved with sexual offenders or victims of violence. The uniformed female detectives also reported greater prejudice and higher rates of sex discrimination than policemen. Such gender and occupational differences are major contributors to psychological distress among female police officers. Off the Job Stressors The female police officers working in law enforcement agency face the same personal and emotional issues that any woman faces. But what differentiates a civilian female from a female officer is that the decisions made with regard to family and intimate relationships can seriously affect their career. As pointed out by Gallo (2001), "At one point, the man in my life observes that it's ironic to watch me cry at a mushy move, knowing that, at work the next night, I might be stepping around bloody corpses without batting an eye. (p. 189). There may be many personal and professional reasons for female officers; not wanting the department to know what is going on in their personal lives. Family Stressors Trained to live up to the police culture, the female officers have no appropriate outlet for human responses to the extreme emotional stresses they face at the job. Many a times they cannot pour out their emotional burdens, once they are at home and among their family members. In order to protect their spouse and family from the harsh realities of their job stressors, the officers keep everything locked up inside them. Sometimes these female officers believe that their spouse and family might not understand their problems. At times they lack the interpersonal skill to talk about their work stressors with their life partners. With all the burdens locked inside them, and no one to turn to for emotional and psychological support, these women feel that they are socially isolated. As Gallo (2001) found, "The social fallout spills over into other parts of my life. I discover just how difficult it is to maintain a relationship with a man who isn't a cop." (p. 198). This sort of perception when extended into the home can at times; ruin marriages. These relationship problems either in the form of divorce or constant arguing or take your pick have drastic emotional stress on the female officers. Family is a unit of love and care, when this unit crumbles down, the result of this emotional stress is a depressed police officer. Such police officers do not feel connected to their personal world and are unable to express this pain to those around them every day. Not only do these female officers are risk prone but also their family, who suffer a kind of vicarious occupational stress. The shift-work, unpredictability, fear of death, injury or kidnapping and even isolation cause family problems. Their children are held to higher standards by the community and their spouses often can't figure out how to communicate with one another. The relationships in the lives of these female officers are often distant and alienated (NIJ, 1991). Family responsibilities are the major personal problems with both the male and female police officers. But, being mothers and wives the females face traumas and casualties which results in the breaking up of their marriages. Researches have shown that police suffer a substantially higher divorce rate, estimating much higher than the other population. Emotional Stressors From the perspective of emotional stressors, it seems that the police culture is inadequate to the task of providing emotional caring to the police force, especially the female officers. These officers, who serve and protect the citizens and the property of the United States, pay a heavy price at the cost of their emotional and personal life. The brave female officers fulfill the demands of this profession at a personal and social level. Many a times the dangers they are faced with; leaves them with traumas and scars that are not physical, but emotional. The police force at times suffers from depression, divorce and other psychological and emotional ailments at a rate that is much higher than the general population. Daily exposure to family and job stressors drains these women's peace of mind and emotional satisfaction. Another major emotional stressor is the breaking up of intimate relationships because; if an officer has an important relationship with the department, there are chances of her personal relationships going bad. Fletcher (1995) found that, "Dating as a police officer, you get used to people lying to you on the job. Everyone lies suspects, victims, witnesses. So, in your personal life, if ever anyone tells you the truth, you're amazed." Sexual harassment is another form of emotional stressors for the female police officers. A survey was conducted by the Statistical Analysis Centre (1994) of female police officers in Florida to examine sexual harassment. Survey forms were delivered to 3790 female officers in Florida and approximately one third completed the forms. Sixty one percent of the respondents revealed that they had been victims of sexual harassment at least once. The most common type of harassment were; inappropriate sexual and gender comments. Over 40 percent of the female officers dealt with sexually oriented jokes or material on daily basis. The survey also revealed that for many female officers, unpleasant and hostile comments from their male contemporaries were a daily experience which takes a heavy toll on their personal lives. Conflicts in Relationships The law enforcement agency has its own sets of rules and regulation in order to ideally govern all conduct. Though the police officers are trained to be in control but these women officers see people at their worst all day; every day. This can cause depression and make them cynical very quickly, just like the whole of humanity. But whether feeling stressed out or hopeless they are still expected to be actively involved with the affairs of their family. Though in most profession, one can leave work stressors back at the office. But with these women; who besides being a police officer, some of them are mothers or wives too. Therefore, at times they find it difficult to pull themselves out of the chilling realities and problems they face while on duty, and at the same time meet their personal and family obligations. This puts extra strain on them because as police officers, they are expected to endure. Most of the times; the female officers are expected not to discuss about their problems with their spouse and family. Often they choose not to talk about their job stressors at home so as to maintain an atmosphere of calm and happiness. But this does not make their work tensions and pressures to go away but only add to their mental ill-health. These women; who opted to become police officers have no choice but to maintain a surface immunity to their own humanness. They have to live with the job stressors and at the same time, maintain a balance between the conflicting job and personal relationships. Policing, Still Largely a Man's World As compared to the past few decades, the number of women working as police officers is greater now than ever before, and accounts for approximately 9 percent of all sworn officers (FBI,1993). But analysis reveals that policing is still a man's world where female officers are not that welcome. Balkin (1988) in his reviewed literature of performance and attitude studies relating to female police officers showed that the public generally accepted the female officers but the male officers consistently held negative attitude in every study. He further found that the primary objection was to the female officer's lack of physical strength and the male officers possessed very traditional attitude toward women. They also believed that women are trying to perform a job that is traditionally identified with strength, masculinity and courage. And in a male dominated society and profession, "He's supposed to be the man; the protector. How do you protect a woman with a 9mm tucked into the waistband of her jeans (Gallo, p.189). Based on the results of interviews with 25 female police officers at a large California agency, Wexler and Logan (1983) found that the biggest source of emotional stress cited by over 80 percent of the women was the negative attitude of the male officers. The results also showed stressors manifested by sexually oriented questions, blatant and anti-women comments as well as refusal to talk to female officers because, "To keep a tight grip on his pride and ego in the company of a woman who slings guns and slaps on handcuffs," is too much for men to bear." (Gallo, p. 220). Though female police officers have been in this profession for decades, they are still viewed with skepticism or worse by their male counterparts. But only because of their determination, and struggle, the female officers have faced all the challenges with determination. However, their acceptance by their peers has yet to occur because, "You learn that wearing a uniform puts a different spin on how men look at you." (Gallo, p. 324). The women police force receives at best a cool reception form their male co-workers but at worst, a hostile reception. Some structural barriers which are experienced by female police officers along with attitudinal barriers, contribute to the disproportionately high number of women in lower levels in the police department. Gender bias is no doubt attitudinal as well as behavioral, along with promotion barriers, comparable assignments and salaries and job security are additional stressors for female officers. Conclusion In order to reduce stress for the police officers in general and female officers in particular, it is important to have individual intervention and coping strategies. Though there is a shift in the attitude but still, the female officers are not completely accepted as equal partners. There still are differences in perception between the female and male officers regarding performance of job, sexual harassment and opportunities for advancement. A change in the organizational context also deserves to be looked into, so as to relieve the stresses face by female officers. There needs to be involvement in order to reduce bias among coworkers, to contain a language of harassment, so as to provide them with an increased sense of control over their work, personal and family lives. To improve the situation, stress management programs for female police officers need to be implemented or provided; to get increased emotional support from the peers and supervisors in order to reduce conflict in job and family relationships. ------------------------------------------------------- BIBLIOGRAPHY Balkin, J. (1998). Why Policemen Don't Like Policewomen. Journal of Police Science and Administration. Vol. 16. No. 1. pp. 29-38. Brown, J & Fielding, J. (1993). Qualitative Difference in Men and Women Police Officers' Experience of Occupational Stress. Work and Stress. Vol.7, No. 4. pp. 327-340. Collins, P. A. & Gibbs, C.C.A. (2003). Stress in Police Officers: A Study of the Origins, Prevalence and Severity of Stress-related Symptoms Within a County Police Force. 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