When you see a female officer approaching you what do you think, an officer first or a female? How would you feel going to work every day being mistreated by your co-worker? A place where your customers/clients mistreat you because of your differences. Even though you are just as qualified and in some cases more qualified?

The role of women in law enforcement has grown tremendously over time, females have started breaking the barriers and showing the world they are just as effective as men. With the influx of female officers some issues may arise, along with issue there are also positive effects that may occur. This article's purpose is to shed light on the mistreatment of women in law enforcement, the effects mistreatment can have on the officers, and the benefits of having a female in a police uniform. Women in law enforcement are treated and judged unfairly from both their colleagues and citizens, but they do possess qualities that male officers may lack in.

Mistreatment is major issue for women in law enforcement, they are not only facing these struggles within the work place but also in the community. With such small numbers in the workforce officers have not had a strong enough voice to overcome the mistreatment. Each year more women are becoming officers, Joseph Parker (2011) the author of “Women in Law Enforcement: A Relief, Not a Burden” said, “In 1970, only two percent of all police were women, but by 1991, that number had grown to nine percent.” In the early years, they were not allowed to preform actual police work.

Later in Parker's article he states, “Women have long been a part of the nation’s forces but they were assigned “women’s work” such as clerical duties or guarding female prisoner.” From the beginning women have been mistreated and had barriers set in front of them, which restricts their roles in police organizations. Most of these obstacles have been placed in front of them by their colleagues.

As their numbers grow, more female officers deal with the criticism from male officers, which dominate the field. Joseph Parker stated, “[Women] are being judged and observed by males not as police officers, but as female police officers.” This goes back to my first couple questions how do people perceive police officers? If women can’t be respected by their peers how are they supposed to feel comfortable going to work every day?

Along with criticism female officers are exposed to treatment from male officers that make their overall work experience negative. Kimberly Hassell and Steven Brandl (2013), "An examination of the workplace experiences of police patrol officer: the role of race, sex, and sexual orientation." The research they conducted examined of the workplace experiences of police patrol officers, which raised some main questions about officer experiences.

Hassell & Brandl found that, “women police officers are more likely than male officers to encounter higher social interactions on the job, including negative attitudes of male officers, exposure to tragedy and trouble, group blame rumors, exposure to profanity and sex jokes, and stigmatization due to appearance.” Female officers should not be treated with this disrespect within the work place, they should be treated just like every other officer. They should be treated with a higher level of respect.

This disrespect happens at all levels of law enforcement going back to Parker’s article, where he found a story published in the Milwaukee Journal. The article said, “a true story of three female Madison police officers claimed that Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents holding a training session called the women ‘bitch,’ ‘hon,’ ‘babe,’ and ‘little girl’ along with having interspersed training slides with pictures of scantily-clad women.”

Women in law enforcement have had to put up with a tremendous amount of discrimination and disrespect, but women keep breaking the barriers that they face. Females receive mistreatment from colleagues then go out into the streets and receive even more disrespect from citizens. Females are forced put up with jokes and stigmatizations from citizens they are sworn to protect.

Ryan Szymczak (2007) is a skeptic of officers becoming police officers. He stated in his article, "Women should not be police officer," “maybe if two of the six cops on duty were more physically inclined, and a little less ladylike.” He points out that women are not physically as inclined as male officers, some citizens do not trust female officer’s ability to perform their duties. Studies have found that females are just as physically able as male officers to perform their duties.

Being overwhelmed by the constant bombardment of harassment, disrespect, and mistreatment may cause female officers to have negative feelings about their career.

Certain mistreatment can cause effects within any workplace. These effects may force officers to leave the field. They can start dislike their job, and have other heightened feeling about being a police officer.

Tokenism is a highlighted in almost every article about officer mistreatment. The articles explain that, tokens are people that make up less than 15 percent of a total group population.

Meghan Stroshine and Steven Brandl (2011) highlight tokenism in the study, “Race, Gender, and Tokenism in Policing: An Empirical Elaboration.” In the article Stroshine and Brandl say, “tokens are expected to experience a variety of hardships in the workplace such as feelings of heightened visibility, isolation, and limited opportunities for advancement.”

Would you want to show up to work every day feeling like this?

According to, “Kanter’s Tokenism study,” that Stroshine and Brandl used, there are three consequences of tokenism: Visibility, Polarization, and Assimilation.

Visibility is the first consequence of tokenism, it's when “tokens feel that their performance is under constant scrutiny.” They feel that the majority, white males, are always pointing out every mistake and judging them for it.

The next consequence is Polarization which, “results in a boundary heightening between the two groups and the exclusion of tokens from both formal and informal communication networks.” Minorities may feel a sense of being not welcome. This could potentially lead officers to feel uninvited and exclude themselves from the whole group.

Lastly, Assimilation is when, “dominant groups are unsure how to treat tokens. This uncertainty is resolved by treating tokens in stereotypical ways, relegating them to organizational roles that are deemed fitting or appropriate for their gender.”

Tokenism is brought up in almost every article because it is important. These officers do not feel welcome in their place of work. How are we going to expect our officers to perform at the highest level if they are getting treated like this by their colleagues? They feel like their work is under constant scrutiny. They also experience feeling like exclusion from events they are given work that their colleagues deem fit.

In the reading, “An Examination of the Workplace Experiences of Police Patrol Officers: The Role of Race, Sex and Sexual Orientation,” Hassell & Brandl touch on how unequal treatment may lead to negative outcomes.

The research states that, “Unequal treatment may lead to many negative outcomes, including employee turnover, productivity, and performance declines, absenteeism, and even consequences for workers.” As a community, it is crucial that our men and women are sworn to protect and serve our community feel comfortable going to work every day.

Women have been mistreated in law enforcement, but they seem to be breaking through these challenges. They are showing the world that they are just as effective and sometimes even more effective than male officers.

Joseph Parker quoted a police quarterly article, it states, “Because women are generally socialized to be nurturing, passive and believed to possess stereotypical traits, such as good communication skills, it has been suggested that female officers, unlike their male peers, have a calming effect on police—citizen interactions, are more effective at diffusing potential volatile situations, and are more likely to provide comfort to crime victims.”

This may be a reason why females have been highly represented in tribal police. They are more respected by the communities they work in. Eileen M Luna-Firebaugh (2013) conducted a study called, “Women in Tribal Policing: An examination of Their Status and Experiences.” In the research she found that, “Women in tribal police departments hold positions of influence within tribal policing, and it may be their status within the field that helps to reduce crime and violence in Indian Country.”

Departments are starting to realize that women do offer benefits to law enforcement, but this is just a small number of agencies. Women are still being mistreated and harassed all over the country.

Capability is the biggest issues critics seem to stress on. They say that women aren’t strong enough and that evolution has left them incapable to perform specific tasks. Parker quotes, “Women can and do perform just as well, if not better, at patrol related tasks as men.” No longer can society place women on the back burner. The evidence is clear, females do possess more of a calming quality and handle intense situations with a nurturing effect.

When you see a female officer approaching you, are you going to see them as an officer first or a woman?

The overall experiences female officers face in a day is unbelievable. They are expected to perform just as well or better than the “white males” who have dominated the field for centuries. They put up with mistreatment, disrespect, and harassment.

Would you like to go to work every day knowing that you could have a sexual or sexist joke made about you?

Equality is simple to preach about but hard to get people to practice. Females are starting to show up into more academies, more agencies and more criminal justice fields. It’s time they got they got their chance to prove themselves.

How do you see them?