Women and Policing: An Assessment of Factors Related to the Likelihood of Pursuing a Career as a Police Officer

• Author: Vanessa M. Diaz,Lidia E. Nuño
• DOI: 10.1177/10986111211009048
• Date: 01 December 2021
• Published date: 01 December 2021
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Women and Policing:

An Assessment of

Factors Related to the

Likelihood of Pursuing

a Career as a Police

Officer

Vanessa M. Diaz

1

and

Lidia E. Nu~

no

2

Abstract

Law enforcement is still considered a male dominated occupation resulting in the

underrepresentation of women in sworn personnel positions. While it is critical for

police departments to have a more representative police force, there is a lack of

research on the factors that affect the likelihood of women entering policing. Past

studies suggest that men and women have similar reasons for joining policing.

However, research on the factors that deter potential candidates from pursuing

this career path is limited. This paper examines factors that may affect the likelihood

of women pursuing a career in policing. We rely on data collected from a sample of

undergraduate students enrolled in criminal justice courses (n ¼421). Our results

show that, relative to men, women are less likely to be interested in pursuing a

career as a police officer. However, more than half of the women in our sample

reported interest in pursuing a career in policing. We find that for men and women,

the likelihood for pursuing a career in policing was affected by a number of personal

characteristics and the current socio-political climate. While a notable limitation of

1

School of Criminology, Criminal Justice, and Emergency Management, California State University, Long

Beach, United States

2

Division of Politics, Administration, and Justice, California State University, Fullerton, United States

Corresponding Author:

Lidia E. Nu~

no, Division of Politics, Administration, and Justice, California State University, Fullerton, CA

92834, United States.

Email: lnuno@fullerton.edu

Police Quarterly

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DOI: 10.1177/10986111211009048

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2021, Vol. 24(4) 465 –485

466 Police Quarterly 24(4)

our study is its limited generalizability, overall, our findings offer some promise for

the potential of representative policing.

Keywords

women in policing, women in law enforcement, gender, representation

Introduction

The male-dominated nature of policing has historically excluded women from its

ranks (Archbold & Schulz, 2012) mainly due to perceptions of policing as phys-

ically demanding (Parsons & Jesilow, 2001), dangerous (Garcia, 2003), and a sexist

occupation (Batton & Wright, 2018). These perceptions have resulted in the lack of

inclusion of women in sworn personnel, whether due to apathy from women or

lack of recruitment from agencies. Currently, women make up approximately 12%

of sworn officers in local police departments (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2019).

While the lack of representation in and of itself is problematic, the low number of

women in policing arguably hinders police officers from more efficiently and effec-

tively doing their job. For example, women tend to be more effective than men in

de-escalating violence (Rabe-Hemp, 2008b), building trust in the community

(Salerno & Sanchez, 2020), and using an appropriate amount of force (Rabe-

Hemp, 2008a), all important aspects and common goals of police work.

While strides were made to make policing a more gender representative entity,

research shows that there are still a number of obstacles women need to overcome

to be able to pursue and a career in policing (Batton & Wright, 2018; Graziano,

2019; Schuck, 2014). Even though some research has started to look into factors

that influence thelikelihood of women pursuing a careerin policing (Cambareri &

Kuhns, 2018), our understanding of these factors is minimal and, hence so is our

understanding of ways in which to ameliorate these obstacles. Given the current

state of the literature on women and policing, it is unclear if women are even

interested in pursuing a career in policing. This gap in our understanding needs to

be addressed as part of the discussion regarding institutional change.

The goal of this study is to provide some insight regarding the likelihood of

women pursuing a career as a police officer. Specifically, our study first exam-

ines women’s interest in pursuing a career in policing—a question that, while

simplistic, has not been thoroughly assessed. We then assess personal character-

istics, perceptions of the profession, and the current socio-political climate and

how these affect the likelihood of pursuing a career in policing, with a specific

focus on gender differences. Findings from this study will provide local agencies

with some guidance on the steps towards enhancing hiring practices and creating

a more representative police force.

2Police Quarterly 0(0)