Challenges of Women in Law Enforcement

In 1972 Congress passed; the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibiting state and local agencies from job discrimination based on gender. Police Department where required to hire women for jobs on an equal basis with men. This should have ended any challenge or barriers that women have had to face based on their gender rights. Although women are supposed to be treated equal; they still our nowhere near their male counterparts. Women in law enforcement still face multiply challenges in the workforce. Not too many years ago, it was considered unusual to be a policewoman. Not only did women comprise a very small percentage of total officers, but their relative newness in the job meant that women were concentrated in the lower-ranking positions. However, this reality has changed. As of 2002, 12.7% of police officers in the United States were women, and the research indicates that the percentage of female officers continues to grow. (Lonsway, et al., 2002). Furthermore, a growing number of higher-ranking officers are women, which, in turn, has created more advancement opportunities for entry-level officers. Despite these trends, women in police work still face tremendous challenges. First while most police departments have made significant improvements in their efforts to recruit and obtain women, many of them still engage in sex-based discrimination through their selection of physical agility tests. Second, many of the gains that women made in equality were imposed through court orders and consent degrees, which are beginning to expire. Third, women and men police differently, as demonstrated by the fact that women were more effective than their male counterparts in avoiding violence and defusing potentially violent situations. Women as less likely than men; to engage in serious unbecoming conduct. Citizen involved in incidents with police officers had the same level of respect and attitudes for both genders.
The women in law enforcement still face multiple challenges