Patriarchy and the Structure of Employment in Criminal Justice: Differences in the Experiences of Men and Women Working in the Legal Profession, Corrections, and Law Enforcement

• Author: Candice Batton,Emily M. Wright
• DOI: 10.1177/1557085118769749
• Published date: 01 July 2019
• Date: 01 July 2019
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/1557085118769749

Feminist Criminology

2019, Vol. 14(3) 287 –306

© The Author(s) 2018

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DOI: 10.1177/1557085118769749

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Article

Patriarchy and the Structure

of Employment in Criminal

Justice: Differences in the

Experiences of Men and

Women Working in the

Legal Profession, Corrections,

and Law Enforcement

Candice Batton1 and Emily M. Wright1

Abstract

Feminist scholars have long argued that patriarchy affects the structure and

organization of society as well as the lived experiences of men and women. Although

often referenced in discussions of gender differences in crime and justice, few have

articulated more specifically the link between patriarchy and gender differences in

the experiences of men and women as victims, offenders, or workers. We take up

the challenge to theorize patriarchy and examine the extent to which it operates as

an organizing principle with regard to employment in the criminal justice system. We

consider differences in the representation of men and women working in the legal

profession, corrections, and law enforcement, as well as the culture and structure

of these workplace environments in the United States. We argue that patriarchy is a

useful midlevel theoretical concept that helps explain both quantitative and qualitative

gender differences in criminal justice work. This study complements the “doing

gender” approach by focusing on gender at the institutional level, and describing

how the culture and structure of the criminal justice system shape and constrain the

experiences of individuals occupying social roles within it.

Keywords

patriarchy, women, gender, criminal justice, policing, corrections, courts

1University of Nebraska Omaha, NE, USA

Corresponding Author:

Emily M. Wright, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Nebraska Omaha, Omaha,

NE 68182, USA.

Email: emwright@unomaha.edu

769749FCXXXX10.1177/1557085118769749Feminist CriminologyBatton and Wright

research-article2018

288 Feminist Criminology 14(3)

Feminist scholars have long argued that patriarchy affects the structure and organiza-

tion of society as well as the lived experiences of men and women. A great deal of

work has focused on macro-level, societal issues, such as the origins of patriarchy, its

relationship to capitalism, and its impact on power, and the division of labor within the

public and domestic spheres. However, aside from general discussions of gender and

the workplace, there have been few attempts to assess the extent to which evidence of

patriarchy can be seen in the structure and organization of activities and social roles in

social institutions such as the criminal justice system. Yet, Walby (1989, 1997) stresses

the importance of focusing at different levels of abstraction to better understand patri-

archy and gender relations in society. Similarly, Acker (1992) argues that organiza-

tional structure is not gender neutral; instead, it is gendered with male dominance and

masculinity pervading organizational processes. Given this, theory and research on

gender and organizations are important (Acker, 1992; Hearn & Parkin, 2001). We take

up the challenge by assessing the extent to which patriarchy functions as an organizing

principle in a specific social institution—the criminal justice system. We ask—and

attempt to answer—whether evidence of patriarchy can be seen in the structure and

organization of criminal justice work, and in the experiences of men and women pur-

suing and working in criminal justice professions.

Since the 1960s and the second wave of the women’s movement, the criminal jus-

tice system in the United States, like other social institutions, has made changes. On

the face of it, the culture is gender-neutral, and policies regarding recruitment and

employment have been adopted to ensure equal access and treatment for men and

women. We now see gender-neutral nomenclature and policies, and for the most part,

efforts to actively restrict women’s employment in the legal profession, law enforce-

ment, and corrections have ceased. However, upon closer scrutiny, it appears that little

has actually changed, with the masculine culture that characterized American criminal

justice throughout its history persisting, and we attempt to provide evidence of this

throughout this article. Efforts to promote equality and eradicate sex discrimination

are only superficial if they do not deal with the underlying culture and structure, which

are the real source of the problem. As Chesney-Lind (2006) notes, attention and vigi-

lance to the experiences of women working in different elements of the criminal jus-

tice system are important. Developing an accurate understanding of the culture and

social structure, and how they shape and constrain the experiences of men and women

working in the criminal justice system, is critical for addressing inequities and making

meaningful changes.

Historically, criminologists have shied away from incorporating the concept of

patriarchy into their theories and research because it is difficult to measure and theo-

rize (Ogle & Batton, 2009). Instead, most criminological research on gender differ-

ences has favored a “doing gender” approach, whereby gender differences are explored

and understood by focusing on how individuals enact social roles as situated action

(Garcia, 2003; J. Miller, 2002; Morash & Haarr, 2012; Rabe-Hemp, 2009).1 We sug-

gest, however, that patriarchy is important, and helpful in understanding how social

structure shapes and constrains the opportunities and experiences of individuals occu-

pying social roles within the criminal justice system. Therefore, we depart from the