Stereotypes in Police Culture

To be a police officer was always considered to be a male orientated job, a man position, as James Brown sang “this is a man world”, so to speak, and because of this and many other stereotypes, women in the law enforcement field had many obstacles to overcome. The role of the police in the society can neither be overlooked nor belittled; without the police force to enforce the law, which facilitates reduction of crime and disorders and to protect individuals as well as national property, human coexistence would be unbearable if not impossible.

The police forces are divided into various arms according to the issues in the society and the structuring varies from one state to another as stipulated in those nations’ constitutions. For many centuries prior to the 19th, the police force was almost purely for men as it was argued that the job descriptions were not suitable for women.

Law enforcement was traditionally perceived as a male field; today’s presence of women in this career is a product of countless legal battles.

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For example: In the nineteenth- century women went to court to continue to secure their rights to participate in public life: to vote, to be a justice of the peace, to be a notary public and to serve as school district directors. In many countries the tests for entry into the force were agility and strength. The gates of police work were not opened to those who did not meet the physical requirements. The battle had to be taken to the courtroom resulting to the Amendment of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

The amendment prohibited race, sex, religion and colour based discrimination (Seklecki &Paynich, 2007). The recruitment of women in Law enforcement, can be traced from the 19th century; nevertheless.

There has been an imbalance as far as the status and the number of women where as in law enforcement is concerned. There are discrepancy about the actual number of certified female police officers, in law enforcement. However, the number of female police officers is steadily declining. Women are still underrepresented at all ranks, and the numbers are lower and sometimes non-existent in some areas. In 1972, women represented 2% of all police departments (International Association of Chiefs of Police [IACP], 1999; Nicholas, 2013), and between 1990 and 1997, that number increased to 14.3% (Langston, 2010). Between 1990 and 1997, that number increased to 14.3% (Langston, 2010). According to the National Centre for Women and Policing [NCWP], (2002) female representation in law enforcement declined by almost 2% in 2001. Today women only account for 12.7% of the law enforcement population nationally.