NCJ Number
162726
Date Published
1996
Length
278 pages
Annotation
This book examines women as police officers, correctional officers, and lawyers and explains the many obstacles women encounter when they enter the male-dominated environment of the criminal justice system.
Abstract
Before 1972, the number of women employed in the criminal justice system as police officers, correctional officers, lawyers, and judges was small. These women were excluded from most jobs that entailed the exercise of authority over men. Women worked only as "specialists," drawing on qualities and skills associated with their gender. As part of a larger social trend in which women have entered occupations traditionally held by men, the number of women working in all parts of the criminal justice system is growing. Despite progress, however, resistance to women has been significant and they have not been completely integrated. Obstacles faced by female workers in the criminal justice system are part of larger organizational and social patterns that construct and support women's subordination to men. Women in fields numerically dominated by men face many barriers, such as exclusion from informal work cultures, hostility, organizational policies that promote gender separation, differential assignments, and sexual harassment. The organization of criminal justice occupations along gender lines is detailed, with emphasis on policing, corrections, and law. Explanations for gender inequality in the workplace are offered. The book contains chapters on the nature of police work and women's entry into law enforcement, gendered police organizations, women in the legal profession, the organizational logic of the gendered legal work, the advancement of and resistance to women in corrections, and the need for change that benefits professional women. References, notes, and tables