Are Women Opting Out? A Mixed Methods Study of Women Patrol Officers’ Promotional Aspirations

• DOI: 10.1177/15570851211004749
• Published date: 01 December 2021
• Author: Lindsay Leban,Benjamin Hixon,Natalie Todak
• Date: 01 December 2021
• Subject Matter: Articles

2021, Vol. 16(5) 658 –679

https://doi.org/10.1177/15570851211004749

Feminist Criminology

© The Author(s) 2021

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DOI: 10.1177/15570851211004749

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Article

Are Women Opting Out?

A Mixed Methods Study of

Women Patrol Officers’

Promotional Aspirations

Natalie Todak1, Lindsay Leban1,

and Benjamin Hixon1

Abstract

Using national survey and interview data from women patrol officers in the United

States, we assess whether women are underrepresented in the upper ranks of

policing because they are self-selecting out of promotions. With only 42% of the

survey sample reporting a desire to promote, we indeed find evidence that many

policewomen are either delaying or forgoing promotions. Among those who were

eligible for promotion, the most common reasons given for waiting to promote were

the desire to keep one’s current shift and to gain more experience. Based on our

findings, we offer recommendations for reducing gendered barriers to promotion

and increasing gender diversity in the upper ranks of law enforcement.

Keywords

policing, gender, glass ceiling, leadership, mixed methods

Introduction

American policing is suffering from low reserves of public trust at unprecedented

levels. The 2020 Gallup poll on confidence in institutions observed the lowest levels

for police since they began collecting these data in 1993, with 59% of White respon-

dents and 19% of Black respondents expressing confidence in police (Ortiz, 2020). In

particular, many have voiced their discontent over issues related to the excessive use

of force, discrimination, and misconduct. Broader concerns have emerged over the

limitations of accountability systems for preventing misconduct, including caselaw

1University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, USA

Corresponding Author:

Natalie Todak, Department of Criminal Justice, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1202 University

Boulevard, Birmingham, AL 35233, USA.

Email: ntod@uab.edu

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that affords leeway to officers (see, e.g., Aviram, 2020; Todak, 2017; White, 2016) and

the “blue wall of silence” that inhibits officers from blowing the whistle on their peers

(see, e.g., al-Gharbi, 2020; Holgersson, 2019; Rodriguez, 2020; The Lamplighter

Project, 2020). Against this backdrop, nationwide debate over police reform increased

in 2020, with some calling to defund and even disband American policing (see, e.g.,

Andrew, 2020; Fernandez, 2020; Searcey, 2020).

It has been suggested that hiring and promoting more women in policing could help

to address many of the critical issues facing policing (Ba et al., 2021; Fantz & Tolan,

2020; NIJ, 2019; Riley, 2020). Through diversification, agencies may see improve-

ments in their workplace environments via changes to (and in some places a disman-

tling of) the existing culture, as well as greater employee satisfaction via improved

work-life balance and family friendly policies designed for emergency responders and

shift workers. Police may also enjoy increased public trust through both visible diverse

representation and tangible improvements in the delivery of police services. These

arguments are grounded in representative bureaucracy theory (i.e., active representa-

tion; Shjarback & Todak, 2019), and in evidence documenting the benefits of diversity

in organizational leadership (see, e.g., Choi et al., 2018; Hoogendoorn et al., 2013;

Moreno-Gómez et al., 2018; Ruiz-Jiménez et al., 2016) and of women police officers

specifically (Black & Kari, 2010; Bolger, 2015; Krimmel & Gormley, 2003; Lonsway,

2000; Lonsway et al., 2002; Meier & Nicholson-Crotty, 2006; Rabe-Hemp, 2008a;

Schuck, 2014, 2018; Schuck & Rabe-Hemp, 2007).

Despite the potential benefits of increasing the number of women in policing,

women continue to be significantly underrepresented in law enforcement, and in

supervisory and leadership positions especially (Shjarback & Todak, 2019). While

explanations abound, few people have studied this inertia. In one perspective, police

departments are viewed as gendered organizations, structured by and for men to the

detriment of women employees (Acker, 1992). Much like individuals assume and per-

form gender identities, organizations are gendered in that their structures, cultures, and

processes operate according to distinctions between masculinity and femininity and in

ways that reinforce gender norms and inequalities. Criminal justice jobs are especially

gendered, in part because their social control function is viewed as the domain of men

(Heidensohn, 1992). The gendered nature of policing is clear from its historical exclu-

sion of women, prominent glass ceiling, and cultural emphases on masculinity, aggres-

sion, and physicality (Gaub & Holtfreter, 2021; Loftus, 2008). Accordingly, the

underrepresentation of women in policing, particularly at higher ranks, is understood

as a product of a persistent “white, heterosexist, male culture” (Loftus, 2008, p. 756)

which manifests in the failures of police departments to target women in recruitment

(Aiello, 2019; Asquith, 2016; Cordner & Cordner, 2011; Kringen, 2014; Perry, 2019;

Schumaker, 2020), an organizational environment unwelcoming and hostile to women

(Franklin, 2005; Rabe-Hemp, 2008b), as well as a lack of women leaders, role models,

and mentors, and poor retention rates for women officers (IACP, 1998; National Center

for Women in Policing, 1999; Perry, 2019; Schumaker, 2020).

Likewise, Kanter’s (1977) tokenism theory suggests women who are numeri-

cally overpowered by men in the workplace encounter challenges resulting from