Police Women: Life With The Badge

It is always perceived that women work twice as well as men to get credit. The implication is that women put more effort into their work than men, and still, they do not get enough credit for the good work they have accomplished. This is happening to women in the law enforcement department (Wells & Alt, 2005). Indeed. Women have been engaged in different roles of policing for over a hundred years, although it did not come easy until the equal employment policy was passed in 1970, which allowed women to form job positions. Initially, they perfumed meter maids’ jobs. However, today, they can perform jobs that involve patrolling and detective duties. Despite this act, which allowed women to break through the ranks, one can still find out that less than one per cent of women occupy top seats in police, and they still have obstacles to climbing through the ranks in policing (Wells & Alt, 2005). This paper seeks to =outline the challenges women face while breaking through the ranks in the police service. Some of the challenges include competition, discrimination, lack of mentoring, sexual harassment, family and different treatment, among other issues.

However, studies have shown that women have transformed the police work into a societal-oriented model of policing. They have reduced police violence, helped with community policing and provided defensive responses to domestic violence. Thus, there is a need to strengthen and raise the profile of women and unite them so that they can deliver quality policy services. There should be no discrimination for women police. Admittedly, female police have experienced discrimination in promotion. Indeed, women police should be mutated to find jobs at faction in the workplace; this will not only ensure retention but also see women police develop their careers.

Equality has been a major issue that affects women police in service. First, women were discriminated against in terms of pay. Indeed, policewomen put in their full effort to deliver quality service, but they were still treated differently compared to their male counterparts. Also, women police were treated differently than their male counterparts. Most of them are not protected by their bosses. For instance, even if they report harassment from their male colleagues or seniors, little attention is given to their complaints (Rabe-Hemp, 2009). This has led some women to express their views and problems because they know too clearly that they would not amicably agree. Therefore, there is a need for senior police officers to treat everyone in the service equally, irrespective of their gender.

On harassment women police have experienced all sorts of harassment in the service. Despite the fact that there are some acts that call for the non-harassment of any officer, there are still elements of herdsmen of women police. There is a need to provide a conducive environment free from fear for police officers. Therefore, this police officer should be treated with the utmost respect. There is a need to deconstruct the social stigmas which follow women up to the police service. Moreover, sexual harassment has been a major form of harassment women police have received in the police force. Sexual harassment involves asking for sexual acts, promising a promotion or any behaviour in return for sex. This provides a hostile environment, which has reduced the performance of some of the affected women police (Rabe-Hemp, 2009). Like many people, women police may not perform better in a discriminative environment. Some forms of sexual harassment entail appropriate touching and offensive reams against one’s body. Retarget women police fear reporting this type of harassment because they fear they will be implicated in other crimes, such as drug abuse and child abuse, among other crimes.

Additionally, discrimination is another issue that bogs the minds of women police. For instance, pregnant women police have not been given lighter duties. Some are given shorter maternity leaves (Gültekin, Leichtman & Garrison, 2010). Moreover, women police have been exposed to limited job opportunities. For since, some are give duties that related to sex crimes, child abuse, and domestic violence among others. The implication is that they have not been given an opportunity to engage in more intensive cases, just like their male counterparts. Also, women are expecting to be performing much better, failure to achieve this execution warrants to discrimination or harassments.

Recent studies on human development have indicated a positive correlation between women’s level of education and international development. Considering the fact that international development is an organization concerned about social and economic development in marginal areas, including women and children, researchers have attempted to discover the factors leading to the difference in development rate. According to Rabe-Hemp (2009), women’s education is one of the major factors contributing to socio-economic differences. Women in the police force are very important to policing, and they can be very productive when nurtured and mentored.

Women police have become a subject that is of concern today and cannot be wished away because they directly affect the community. Whenever it comes to the discussion of Law enforcement, the subject takes centre stage. The issue broadly envisages the trust the women police have in the communities in which they enforce the law. The sensitivity of the matter has made it today to be galvanized into a single subject despite the fact that the two developed several decades ago as independent subjects.

There are different principles on which the concepts have been founded, and a lot of information has been combined so that the ideas can be much better understood and efficiently implemented to create harmony between the involved parties: the police and the community they serve (Hassell, Archbold, & Stichman, 2011). There are four major components governing procedural justice: neutrality or merely being fair on justice dispensation, listening to the inner voice, treating the subjects with respect, and the essence of trust in the community by the law enforcers. Diverse approaches have been created and used for some time in creating harmony and a working partnership between law enforcement agencies and all other stakeholders in the process of the actualization of procedural justice and ensuring that the Police execute their responsibility with due diligence.

Enhancing the work of women police revolves around the act of being fair and transparent whenever it comes to decision-making. It can alternatively be perceived as an act of distributive justice, being fair whenever penalties for the offences committed by the subjects are given. Whenever one is charged with the responsibility to serve the people, then they should remain non-partisan and penalize the victim according to the law but not do so with malice or favour.

Women police should be given an opportunity to further or pursue their education in police work. Women’s education is beneficial not only to individuals but also to their countries. It has been established that countries and even individuals that have invested in the education of the women police have benefited more. The impacts of women and low education levels are so serious and result in low economic growth. Overall, educating women police is important to society and the nation as a whole since educated women positively contribute to the development of the economy as well as better policing services. The subject of treating police women asserts that the police deserve to be given their space when it comes to discharging their responsibilities.

They should be well endowed with the authority to exercise their duty of law enforcement efficiently so that law and order can be maintained among the subjects. This way, conflicts can be efficiently and effectively managed, and the emanating problems in the community can be readily solved. Recently, past, various authors and human rights activists have come up with ideas elaborating the prominence of women’s education and well-being around the globe while in policing. Also, there has been progress on major determinants of a woman’s health. Interestingly, reports show that there has been an increase in the school enrolment rates of girls and women’s political participation recently. However, there are some challenges facing women’s health, mostly in low-resource settings where women are discriminated against based on their sex and ethnicity, which disadvantages their health even more.

There is a need to promote safety for policewomen. A social environment promoting safety would help reduce threats among policewomen (Waters & Ussery, 2007). Counselling and social services for students can reduce suicide and even homicides. Rehabilitation of drug addicts would also act as a countermeasure to the drug addicts. Policewomen are a very important part of the development of society, even though they are prone to harassment and exposure to certain harsh conditions. In particular, women police need mentors and guidance, which is necessary to ensure they remain part of the policing society since they are the future of every nation, both economically and socially, across the world.

In summary, policewomen should be given equal treatment. They should be given a conducive environment so that they can perform their jobs well. The management of the police should strive to eliminate any kind of harassment or hindrance which will prevent policewomen from delivering their services.

References

Gültekin, K., Leichtman, E. C., & Garrison, C. G. (2010). Gender issues and the women of the Turkish National Police. Police Practice and Research: An International Journal, 11(5), 423-436.

Hassell, K. D., Archbold, C. A., & Stichman, A. J. (2011). Comparing the Workplace Experiences of Male and Female Police Officers: Examining Workplace Problems, Stress, Job Satisfaction and Consideration of Career Change. International journal of police science & management, 13(1), 37-53.

Rabe-Hemp, C. E. (2009). POLICEwomen or policeWOMEN? Doing gender and police work. Feminist criminology, 4(2), 114-129.

Waters, J. A., & Ussery, W. (2007). Police stress: history, contributing factors, symptoms, and interventions. Policing: an international journal of police strategies & management, 30(2), 169-188.

Wells, S., & Alt, B. S. (2005). Police women: Life with the badge. Greenwood Publishing Group.