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WOMEN IN LAW ENFORCEMENT.
Term Paper ID:29104
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Essay Subject:
Discusses reasons for small number of women on police forces.... More...
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7 Pages / 1575 Words
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Paper Abstract:
Discusses reasons for small number of women on police forces. Historical overview. Current situation. Involvement of women in almost every aspect of police work. Discrimination against female officers. Example of LAPD. Women in other aspects of law enforcement such as public defenders, prosecuting attorneys, judges.
Paper Introduction:
Women in Law Enforcement
Introduction
This essay will analyze the relation of women to law enforcement. Even though women make up more than 51 percent of the American population, their representation on the police forces, the first line of law enforcement, usually hovers around 10 percent. The primary challenge of this essay will be to examine the possible reasons for this inequity. It will begin with a historical overview. Then we shall examine women in the police and patrol agencies around the United States. This will be followed by a brief analysis of women in other aspects of law enforcement -- making the laws, prosecuting the laws, and judging the laws.
Text of the Paper:
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Conclusion A report in Law Enforcement News detailed a thorough study of womenpolice officers around the nation and found that few female officers everascend to the upper echelons of law enforcement, even within thePhiladelphia Police Department, the agency that was found to have the most women in uniform out of some 126 agencies surveyed in a new report by the National Center for Women and Policing. This was the tradition that was utilized throughout the United Statesand one which remained until 19 9 in Los Angeles when a socialworker/suffragette named Alice Stebbins Wells sent a petition to the CityCouncil urging that the City establish a program of policewomen. (1999, April), Recognition and Respect:a contentanalysis of prime-time television characters across three decades, SexRoles: A Journal of Research, 11 Ironically, the Police Department that created the very firstpolicewoman is also the Police Department that now discriminates heavilyagainst women. Women in Law Enforcement Introduction This essay will analyze the relation of women to law enforcement.Even though women make up more than 51 percent of the American population,their representation on the police forces, the first line of lawenforcement, usually hovers around 1 percent. By 1916, 16 other American cities and five Europeanstates had followed suit and she had formed the International Policewomen'sAssociation in 1915. Sheshowed her badge and the conductor refused to honor it, saying that she hadobviously stolen her husband's badge. Actually, it was almost as hard for women to break the lawyer barrier. Since then, the LAPD has been ordered twice by the court to increase its numbers of women, a mandate that has been largely ignored, records show (Iannone & Iannone, 2 , 244). The gains have been negligible, and willprobably remain so for the short term. In addition, many of the problems faced bywomen in policing exist because law enforcement agencies do not take womeninto account in the workplace. Almanac Online). AsEmsley points out Recognizing the difficulties which could arise if policemen alone were required to arrest and hold women in custody, possibly even to search them, women began to be employed in police stations specifically to deal with female suspects (Emsley, 1999, 1 2). Overall, the figure has risen just 5.3 percent since 199 , to account for 14.3 percent of officers nationwide. As the job descriptionexpands beyond crime fighting into community service, the growing presenceof women may help improve the tarnished image of police officers, improvecommunity relations and foster a more flexible, and less violent, approachto keeping the peace. This was remedied by presenting her with"Policewoman's Badge Number One." It is instructive to consider the primary code of conduct for women.The regulation book read "No young girl can be questioned by a maleofficer. The survey also found that in the public defender sector and theprosecuting attorney sector, women did outnumber men in raw numbers howeverpromotions did tend to go to the male lawyers. (1998, Feb. The primary challenge ofthis essay will be to examine the possible reasons for this inequity. (2 ), Supervision of PolicePersonnel, 6th Ed New York: Prentice Hall Los Angeles Almanac, online athttp://www.losangelesalmanac.com/topics/Crime/cr7 .htm Signorielli, N. Their numbers arediminished at every level of influence" (Fisher, 1998, 19). Less than one-fifth of the Los Angeles Police Department(LAPD) is female, and nationwide women make up less than 1 percent of sworn police officers and are virtually absent from the higher ranks. Many cops retireafter sterling careers never having drawn their gun. April 1), The Origins of the Modern Police, HistoryToday, 12 Fisher, S. A 1995 survey of female police officers in a medium-sized departmentfound that 68 percent of the women had been sexually harassed while on thejob by a member of their agency. In addition, of the 3 judges on the Los Angeles Superior Court, 38 are women (LA Almanac Online). She was first arrested for protesting, andthen filed again. Such work is delegated solely to policewomen, who, by theirwomanly sympathy and intuition, are able to gain the confidence of theiryounger sisters" (L.A. Law enforcement is not a woman's world, although all best evidencesuggests that it should be. And physicaleducation instructors do not properly pace female recruits, which resultsin injuries; and, ultimately, a disproportionate number of women beingeliminated from the academy (Iannone & Iannone, 2 ). Itwill begin with a historical overview. The Los Angeles Business Journal recently conducted a survey of the 5 largest law firms in the county and found that only six had female managingpartners. (1996), Barred from the Bar: A History ofWomen in the Legal Profession, Philadelphia: Franklin Watts Iannone, M.; Iannone, N.F. 9), Unequal under law: women lawyers stillscarce in upper ranks, Los Angeles Business Journal, 19 Garza, H.; Cockcroft, J. Just as women make upmore than half of the population but are majorly under represented inpolice departmenrs, women represent about half of the law students in theU.S. The group was formed over beers in the 198 s following afederal court order demanding the department hire more women officers(Iannone & Iannone, 2 ). Then we shall examine women in thepolice and patrol agencies around the United States. OnSeptember 12, 191 , according to Los Angeles city records, Mrs. Wells wasnamed as America's first policewoman with arrest powers (L.A. we know that womenhave not become partners at a proportional rate. The French had developed a special unit called the police des moeurs,to regulate female prostitutes and the suspected premises involved. Experts estimate that 9 % of an officer's day involves talking tocitizens, doing paperwork and handling public relations. One of thebenefits of being a Los Angeles cop was getting free trolley rides. This was slow to change. However, the continuance of one of the oldest crimes --prostitution -- was seen as a major social problem and one that neededpolice supervision. By 1912, the Los Angeles police department had three policewomen andthree police matron. This is in spite of numerousstudies that show women to be better in interpersonal communications andconflict resolutions. Her "beat" included supervision and enforcement of laws concerning"dance halls, skating rinks, penny arcades, picture shows, and othersimilar places of public recreation." Among her activities were the"suppression of unwholesome billboard displays, searches for missingpersons, and the maintenance of a general information bureau for womenseeking advice on matters within the scope of police departments" (LAAlmanac Online). When the current Supreme Court JusticeSandra Day O'Connor graduated from Stanford in 1951 (third in her class)she could not find a job as a lawyer, until she applied just using herinitials. Women in other Aspects of Law EnforcementA further picture of women in law enforcement is seen when the legalramifications are considered. Situation Today Today women are involved in almost every aspect of police work,ranging from street patrols to vice and from organized crime to vice.Studies have shown that women police officers routinely perform better thantheir male counterparts at defusing violent situations and use excessiveforce less often. AlmanacOnline). For instance, in 1873, Myra Bradwell, a very intelligent woman in Chicagoapplied for a lawyer's license. Historical Overview Throughout European history up until the Early 2 th Century, the roleof policing society, preserving order, enforcing the laws, and arrestingthose who break the laws, was considered to be an ordained maleresponsibility. Among her gear for the first day was a policeman's badge. This suggests that the role of women in law enforcement, whethermaking the laws, prosecuting the laws, or upholding the laws, is showinglittle sign of improvement. Despite great adversity and ridicule, women are succeeding intheir fight to overcome the roadblocks in the legal profession. She eventually was granted aprovisional license but was not allowed to argue in certain courts, andnever when men were present, which was never. According to the study, "Equality Denied, The Status of Women in Policing: 1999," there has been just a half-percent increase in the percentage of female sworn personnel since 1998. In addition, supervisors are often nottrained in department policies on pregnancy or childcare assistance.Uniforms and equipment are often not ordered in women's sizes. In fact, there is evidence that there is a covert all- maleorganization within the LAPD called Men Against Women,whose ultimate objective was to drive women from the force using harassmentand intimidation. This will be followedby a brief analysis of women in other aspects of law enforcement -- makingthe laws, prosecuting the laws, and judging the laws. She found a lawyer to take this case to the United States SupremeCourt that turned it down again, using the argument that women should onlybe allowed to be wives and mothers. In 1991, court cases determined that the LAPD discriminated on the basis of sex. (1999. To make sure this didn't happenagain, she was issued a new badge that said "Policewoman Number One." her husband's identity. and "half of the initial hires in law firms but ... The number of women holding top ranking positions, the report said, is only 5.6 percent ("Despite", 2 , Online). References Despite some gains, female cops still find too few cracks in the glassceiling,(2 , June 15), Law Enforcement Journal, online athttp://www.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/len/2 / 6.15/ Emsley, C. For police departments are but one part ofthe law enforcement career in the United States. The State of Illinois turned it down and she appealedthis to the Illinois Supreme Court that found the State was right inrefusing to allow a woman to be a lawyer, since it was "well known thatwomen do not think as clearly or as positively as men" (Garza & Cockcroft,1996, 42).
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