Gender issues in policing: do they matter?

The Authors

Ronald J. Burke, Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto, Canada

Aslaug Mikkelsen, School of Business Administration and Social Science, Stavanger University College, Stavanger, Norway

Acknowledgements

Preparation for this manuscript was supported in part by Rogaland Institute, the School of Business, York University and Stavanger University College. The authors thank the Police Union for financial support and assistance with data collection. Lisa Fiksenbaum helped with data analysis.

Abstract

Purpose – This study aims to examine gender issues in a sample of male and female police officers in Norway.

Design/methodology/approach – Three gender issues were considered: perceptions of equal opportunity, possible reasons for differences in male and female career opportunities, and experiences of sexual harassment. Data were collected from 766 police officers in Norway using anonymous questionnaires, a 62 percent response rate.

Findings – Female officers indicated significantly lower levels of equal opportunity perceptions, more reasons for career opportunity differences (particularly discrimination), and more sexual harassment than did male officers. Female officers reporting lower levels of equal opportunity perceptions were less job-satisfied, more cynical, rated their quality of leadership lower and indicated more health complaints. Female officers experiencing more sexual harassment also indicated less job satisfaction. Finally, female officers offering more reasons for career differences (particularly discrimination) reported less job satisfaction, and lower professional efficacy.

Research limitations/implications – Future research needs to examine gender issues in policing in greater depth using qualitative methodology. Data collected used self-reports ,raising the possibility of response set tendencies. Results may not generalize to other countries or other professions.

Practical implications – Suggestions for addressing gender issues in organizations are offered.

Originality/value – Provides current information on consequences of gender issues in policing in a cross-cultural context.

Article Type:

Research paper

Keyword(s):

Gender; Equal opportunities; Police; Norway.

Journal:

Women in Management Review

Volume:

Number:

Year:

2005

pp:

133-143

Copyright ©

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

ISSN:

0964-9425

Policing is believed to be a demanding, high stress occupation (Abdollahi, 2002). It is an occupation in which officers sometimes are exposed to violence and threats; the police culture is described as a “macho environment” reflected in the “John Wayne” or “Dirty Harry” syndrome, (Fielding, 1994; Kop and Euwema, 2001). The police environment would appear to be not particularly inviting to women (Metcalfe and Dick, 2002).

Depending on the country, between ten and twenty percent of police officers are women (Brown, 1997; Brown and Heidenshohn, 2000) and few women are found in senior police management positions, a finding common to non-police organizations as well (Martin, 1993; National Center for Women in Policing, 2000). Female and male police officers generally report similar types and levels of job demands with some exceptions (Norvell et al., 1993; Weiler and Logan, 1983). Women in police work commonly report greater stress from discrimination and sexual harassment than do men (Martin, 1996; Potts, 1983; Silvestri, 1998; Weishert, 1987). In addition, women are less likely to be exposed to violence or threats and more likely to be involved in cases involving children, women and domestic violence (Brown and Heidenshohn, 2000).

Brown and Fielding (1993) examined gender differences in uniformed officer's and detectives’ exposure rates and felt stress arising from operational duties and from organizational and management issues. Males reported higher exposure rates to arresting a violent person, attending a large-scale public order situation, football duty at a large scale match, inadequate resources or finances, working in isolation and being caught up in station politics. In contrast, females reported higher exposure rates to dealing with victims of a violent or sexual offence, sex discrimination or prejudice, and boredom at work due to performing a repetitive task. Furthermore, males reported higher felt stress from working in isolation and lack of control over annual leave, whereas females reported higher felt stress from arresting a violent person, attending a large-scale public order situation, having to inform relatives of sudden death, dealing with victims of a violent or sexual offence, and demands of work impinging on family relationships. Davis (1984) and Prendergrass and Ostrove (1984) come to similar conclusions.

Some researchers have examined the effects of the police organizational culture on the experiences of female officers (Fielding, 1994; Martin, 1996; Young, 1991). These cultural barriers operate in more subtle ways to make the job more difficult for female officers and erode their confidence.

Morris (1996) examined gender and ethnic differences in police officers’ social interactions. Females reported more positive interactions especially with regard to supervisory fairness. They also reported more negative interactions especially with regard to harassment in the command, sexual harassment and gossiping and hazing. Females reported more participation in social networks especially with regard to belonging to fraternal organizations. However, they reported a lower proportion of close friends who were police but reported higher family support for their jobs.

In spite of this, female officers seem to perform their jobs as well as male officers. For example, Kerber et al. (1977) examined public perceptions of male and female officers. With regard to whether respondents would “prefer a male or female officer to come to their aid in most situations”, the majority had no preference, 38 percent preferred a male, and less than one percent preferred a female. With regard to whether respondents would rather “deal officially with a male or female officer in most situations”, again, the majority had no preference, thirty-five percent preferred a male, and three percent preferred a female. With regard to “police officer competence” across thirteen roles, males were seen to the most competent at patrolling in a squad car and stopping a fist fight whereas females were seen to most competent at problems with children under thirteen and dealing with a rape victim. Across the remaining nine roles, the majority of respondents perceived male and female officers to be equally competent. The same results held true when respondents rated their “preference for male or female officers” across the same 13 roles. There is considerable evidence that female police officers are likely to encounter higher levels of harassment, open hostility and negative interactions on the job compared to their male co-workers (Balkin, 1988; Weiler and Logan, 1983; Hunt, 1990; Brown, 1998). Unfortunately these concerns have received relatively little attention within the broader study of police stress, a gap that the present study attempts to address.

This research study had two specific objectives. The first was to determine the nature of the differences in the ways male and female officers perceive gender issues in policing. The second was to determine whether gender issues mattered to female officers. That is, were female officers views of gender issues related to their work satisfactions and well-being? The research literature indicates that female police officers are as committed to their forces as are male police officers (Metcalfe and Dick, 2002), but receive different work assignments and may experience different job demands, particularly concerning gender issues such as discrimination and harassment.

Method

Respondents

Table I shows the demographic characteristics of the police sample (n=766). Most respondents were male (84 percent), married (82 percent), had children (88 percent), held constable positions (62 percent), worked in urban areas (73 percent), worked in large departments (100 or more, 36 percent) worked between 36-39 hours per week (86 percent) worked five or less hours of overtime per week (75 percent), held fairly long police tenure (21 years or more 39 percent) and were born in 1960 or before (42 percent). We compared male and female officers on a number of demographic and work situation characteristics using one-way ANOVA (data not reported here). Every difference but one (marital status) reached statistical significant (p < 0.05). Male officers were older, had longer police tenure, and less education, were less likely to police in rural settings, worked in smaller forces, were more likely to work continuous shiftwork and worked more hours and more overtime hours per week. This pattern of differences reflects the demographic realities of policing today (Brown and Heidenshohn, 2000).

Procedure

Data were collected from 766 police officers working in 22 police jurisdictions in Norway using anonymously completed questionnaires, a sixty two percent response rate. Questionnaires were mailed by the police union and returned to an independent research institute. Some measures were translated from English to Norwegian by others (e.g. Maslach burnout inventory).

Measures

Gender issues

Three gender issues were considered using measures created specifically for this study:

Equal opportunity perceptions was measured by four items (α =0.86). Respondents indicated whether males and females had equal opportunities for professional development, promotions to leadership positions, income and staying until retirement.
Reasons for career differences was measured by four items (α = 0.50) If there was a difference between male and female career opportunities, to what extent were the four items listed reasons for the differences. The items were: work assignments, work time, gender differences between men and women and discrimination against women.
Sexual harassment was measured by two items (α = 0.36). Officers indicated the frequency they received unwanted sexual attention from work colleagues and the public. Only one of the three intercorrelations among these three measures was significantly different from zero (p < 0.05): perceptions of equal opportunity and reasons for career differences between men and women (r = 0.29, p < 0.001).

Work and psychological wellbeing outcomes

A variety of work and psychological well-being outcomes were assessed by multiple item measures:

Job satisfaction was assessed by a seven-item scale (α = 0.75) developed by Kristensen and Borg (2001). An item was “Regarding your work in general, how satisfied are you with your job as a whole, everything taken into consideration.”
Professional efficacy was measured by a six items (α = 0.80) from the Maslach burnout inventory-general survey (MBI-GS) developed by Schaufeli et al. (1996). An item was “At my work, I feel confident that I am effective at getting things done.”
Social support was measured by a four-item scale (α = 0.79) also developed by Kristensen and Borg (2001). One item was “how often do you get help and support from your colleagues at work?”
Leadership quality was measured by eight items (α = 0.94) using a scale developed by Kristensen and Borg (2001). One item was “To what extent would you say that your immediate superiors are good at communicating with the staff?”
Subjective health complaints was measured by a 29-item scale (α = 0.90) developed by Eriksen et al. (1999). Respondents indicate how frequently they had experienced each complaint or symptom during the past month on a four-point scale. Items included headache and lower back pain.
Emotional exhaustion, one of three components of burnout measured by the MBI-GS, was assessed by five items (α = 0.86). An item was “I feel emotionally drained from my work”.
Cynicism, also from MBI-GS, was measured by five items (α = 0.78). One item was “I have become less interested in my work since I started this job.”

Results

Equal opportunities

Male and female officers views on equal opportunities in four areas were compared: professional and development, to become leaders, income and to work until retirement. These data are shown in Table II. In each case, female officers indicated significantly lower perceptions of equal opportunity.

Reasons for career differences

Respondents were then asked, if there was a difference between men's and women's career opportunities, to what extent were each of four different factors likely explanations: work assignments, police tenure, gender differences and discrimination. Females endorsed discrimination more strongly and work assignments less strongly than males as possible reasons for career differences. Males and females endorsed police tenure and gender differences similarly as possible reasons for career differences.

Sexual harassment

Female police officers also reported more sexual harassment than did their male colleagues (bottom line in Table II).

Correlates of gender issues among female police officers

Do female police officers views on gender issues matter? Correlations were computed between female officers’ views on three gender issues (equal opportunity perceptions, reasons for career differences and experiences of sexual harassment) and selected work outcomes and psychological well-being measures. Table III shows these correlations. The following comments are offered in summary.

Five of the seven correlations shown in Table III involving perceptions of equal opportunity were significantly different from zero (p < 0.05). Female police officers indicating more favorable equal opportunity perceptions also reported greater job satisfaction, more social support, more positive appraisals of force leadership, fewer health complaints and lower levels of cynicism. Equal opportunity perceptions had no relationship with levels of emotional exhaustion, professional efficacy or desired retirement age.

Two of the seven correlations involving reasons for career differences between men and women were significantly different from zero (p < 0.05). Female officers indicating more reasons for such differences indicated lower levels of both job satisfaction and professional efficacy. In addition female officers indicating more reasons for career differences tended to report more exhaustion and cynicism (p < 0.10).

Only one of the seven correlations involving experiences of sexual harassment reached statistical significance (p < 0.05) with two others approaching statistical significance (p < 0.10). Female police officers experiencing more sexual harassment indicated less job satisfaction and tended to rate their quality of leadership lower and to report more subjective health complaints.

It should be noted that only one of these correlations exceeded 0.30 suggesting modest relationships between equal opportunity perceptions reasons for career differences and experiences of sexual harassment, and the work and psychological well-being measures used in this study.

Hierarchical regression analyses

Hierarchical regression analyses were then undertaken to examine the influence of three blocks of predictors on the work and psychological well-being outcomes discussed in Table III. The first block of predictors included personal demographic items (e.g. age, marital status, level of education). The second block of predictors included work situation characteristics (e.g. size of force, shiftwork arrangement, urban vs. rural policing). The third block of predictors included the three gender issues (perceptions of equal opportunity, reasons for career differences in opportunity, and experiences of sexual harassment). The first two blocks of predictors served as control variables before examining the relationship of the gender issues with the outcome measures. When a block of predictors accounted for a significant amount for increment in explained variance on a particular outcome (p < 0.05), individual measures within such blocks having a significant and independent relationship with these outcomes (p < 0.05) were identified. Table IV presents the results of these analyses.

The following comments are offered in summary. First, personal demographics accounted for a significant amount of explained variance on three of the eight outcome measures: professional efficacy, exhaustion and cynicism. Police officers having less education also reported higher levels of cynicism (β = −0.22). Second, work situation characteristics accounted for a significant increment in explained variance on only one outcome: job satisfaction. Police officers working continuous shiftwork indicated less job satisfaction (β = −0.39). Third, gender issues accounted for significant increments in explained variance on three outcomes (job satisfaction, leadership quality, social support) and tended to account for a significant increment in explained variance on a fourth (cynicism). Female officers reporting more sexual harassment indicated less job satisfaction (β = −0.26). Female officers perceiving less equal opportunity also reported lower levels of social support (β = −0.34). Female officers indicating more sexual harassment reported a lower quality of leadership (β = −0.25). Finally, female officers indicating higher levels of sexual harassment tended to report greater cynicism (β = 0.19).

Discussion

Police work is generally viewed as a stressful occupation in which officers are exposed to potentially violent and threatening situations. It is also a culture supporting masculine values (Hunt, 1990; Young, 1991). As such, women may have a particularly difficult time succeeding under these conditions.

Considerable attention has been devoted to examining the stressors associated with police work. One area of police work experience that has fairly consistently been found to be problematic for women has been concerns about equal opportunity discrimination and sexual harassment (Walklate, 1995).

This study had two objectives. One was to determine whether male and female police officers held similar views on gender issues in their forces. The second was to determine whether, for female officers, gender concerns mattered. That is, did the experience of unequal opportunities or sexual harassment have a negative relationship with work and well-being outcomes.

Our findings showed (see Table II) that the views of female officers on the presence of equal opportunity for women, and the reasons for such differences in opportunity, were significantly different from those of their male colleagues. Female officers reported a less equal, more discriminatory environment than did their male colleagues. Female officers also reported higher levels of sexual harassment.

What was not anticipated were the modest and inconsistent correlations between the three gender issues and a variety of work and psychological well-being measures for women officers (see Table III and Table IV). While relationships that were statistically significant were always in the predicted direction (i.e. lower equal opportunity perceptions were associated with less satisfaction), the size of these relationships was modest.

This is not to suggest that police organizations do not need to concern themselves with gender issues voiced by their female officers. They should since these gender issues were found to be associated with less satisfying personal and work outcomes. The work and health outcomes considered here are likely influenced by a number of factors, gender issues for female officers being only one of them.

Our findings were consistent with the results of other studies carried out in different countries. Women police officers continue to face career barriers in the form of discrimination, negative stereotyping and sexual harassment. The macho nature of the police culture, while making it perhaps more difficult to address these concerns, in no way implies that attitude, behavioral and cultural change should not be undertaken. We are beginning to understand how such changes may be achieved and sustained (see Burke and Nelson, 2000; Davidson and Burke, 2002).

Limitations of the study

Some limitations of the study should be noted to put the findings in a broader context. First, the sample of female police officers was small suggesting that the findings be treated with caution. Second, all data were collected using self-report questionnaires raising the possibility of common method response bias. Third, a few of the measures had levels of reliability lower than the generally accepted 0.70 level. Fourth, it is not clear the extent to which these findings generalize to female police officers in other countries. It has been suggested that approaches to policing differ across countries and these differences likely effect the experiences of both women and men officers.

Table IDemographic characteristics of sample

Table IIMale-female differences on gender issues

Table IIICorrelates of gender issues of female police officers

Table IVPredictors of work and health outcomes of female police officers

References

Abdollahi, M.K. (2002), "Understanding police stress research", Journal of Forensic Psychology Practice, Vol. 2 pp.1-24.