Women in Criminal Justice Professions

Women in law enforcement in Canada

approx. 20% of police officers are women. Police services struggle to recruit and retain women officers. First female officer in 1974.

Policing as a Patriarchal Institution

Policing as a tool of the patriarchal state and institutional culture that values - competitiveness, aggressiveness, physical strength and emotional detachment.

Hegemonic masculinity in police agency is maintained through - HADHarOs

heterosexism,

authority,

discrimination

and harassment

and occupational segregation (women kept in certain jobs)

Gender Identity and Policing

in a 1980 study, susan ehrlich martin argued that women police officers adopt either - a POLICEwoman identity (conformity to the masculine police structure) or a policeWOMAN identity (conformity to the stereotypical feminine roles).

Policewomen who attempt to meet the crime-fighting image of ruggedness and masculinity may be negatively labeled as “butch or dyke” but female officers who do not attempt to meet this perceived ideal may risk being defined as weak.

How do women police officers construct their identity?

women no longer went with POLICEwomen instead emphasis how being a woman is a benefit to the police force.

By using feminine traits like - empathy, communication, collaboration and building trust. They describe themselves as better at serving women and children, esp in victimization situations, and responsible for protecting women from re-victimization, being 'maternal caretakers', and not the 'pansy police'

women police officers and Gender inequality - ‘women’s work:

by adopting 'womens work', female officers - maintain hegemonic masculinity in policing, essentialize gender, maintain occupational segregation and foster the devaluation of 'feminine tasks'.

Women police officers also distance themselves from 'problematic' women officers.

Women in Canadian Correctional services

hires women since 1970s, considered by many as central to gender responsive corrections.

at the start, they were hired to work in women prisons only but they now can work in male prisons too. Data shows that inmates respond the same amount to women as they do men

Challenges faced by women in Correctional Officers - GdHfcPcPasCOsUfwlVt

gender discrimination,

harassment from supervisors or colleagues,

pressures to prove competence,

being perceived as potential source of conflict,

Occupational segregation,

unfair workload/emotional labour and job stress (burnout,

vicarious trauma (witnessing someone else trauma), compassion fatigue).

Most report working with women is harder than working with men inmates

Gender Identity and Correctional work

both men and women correctional officers emphasize the specific skills that sets that women bring to profession. like communication, empty, emotional labour, building 'connections with relationships' with inmates, de escalating conflict.

How is the prisons environment gendered?

essentialize gender themselves by specifying their skills as women. Women have to defy the expectations all the times. In male prisons, theres a lack of masculinity they're given, so male inmates tend to lash out to prove their masculinity against women.

how do correctional officers describe sexualized interactions in the prison environment?

attention was focused on their behaviour (the women officers), esp in cases of unwanted sexual advances.

what gender stereotypes do they build on of sexualized relationships?

victim blaming or women being seen sexualized themselves therefore being the person to sexualize the interaction.

Its also stereotype of men of how mens experience of desire is normal / natural. Men feel that they are men before an inmates which make them feel that they are deserving off it.

also the expectation of women have to be the one to protect themselves. General stereotypes of what male prisoners find attractive

How do correctional officers describe womens needs?

describe female prisoners as overall emotionally, passive and requiring more emotional supports. also that women brag about their crimes, and create conflict. They dont expect women to act violent or act out loud which makes them report them as more complicated, even tho thats normal in male prisons.

how officers understood their role was different too - in mens prisons they expected authority and respect automatically while in women prisons it was more about building a connection and being and equal

what stereotypes do they build on describing womens needs?

the idea that men do not need help and that women are the ones that need the emotional supports