Derived from extensive ethnographic research (involving police responses to gangland shootings, high speed car chases as well as more routine policing activities), this book examines the way police attitudes and beliefs combine to perpetuate a working culture which is dependent upon traditional conceptions of 'male' and 'female'. In doing so it challenges previously held assumptions about the way women are harassed, manipulated and constrained, focusing rather on the more subtle impact of structures and norms within police culture.

Women in Policing around the World is a historical, legal, political, and social examination of women in policing. The book opens with a comparison of cultural definitions of gender and how this affects women's work in general and policing specifically. The book then takes the reader through women in policing in the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, featuring several countries within the major regions of the world. Major commonalities and differences are identified in the areas of recruitment, training, deployment, promotion, and violence against women. Among the key features of this book is a balanced coverage of historical and timely events that led to the current status of women police in their respective countries. The book identifies the commonalities that women police experience throughout the world, relying on the most current research. The book also dedicates coverage of policing violence against women in society as well as within the police organization itself. The author includes tables to allow for national comparisons throughout the book, as well as current and historical photos. This book is intended for researchers and students of police culture and women in policing. It does not rely heavily on one country or region, thus allowing for an enlightening international comparison.

A look at the contradictions that emerge when a traditional paramilitary institution is challenged to expand its ideology and practice.

Women in Policing provides an insight into women's role within policing, their emergence, and development, offering a theoretical underpinning to explore this role as well as incorporating two empirical studies, one which reassesses the lived experiences of female officers, and one based on FOI requests to examine police officer disciplinary offences in three police force areas. The book begins by exploring some of the history of ideas in relation to ideas about women and their supposed nature. Cunningham shows how a variety of feminist ideas and critique are of vital importance in illuminating and critiquing the place of women within this field and provides a feminist lens with which to explore these themes critically. The book also examines the re-emergence of these ideas about women in current women and policing literature. Together, exploration of these sources using a feminist conceptual framework facilitates a new, rich analysis that is both reflective and reflexive, culminating in a novel snapshot of the place of women in policing in England. She argues that accepting both institutional racism and institutional misogyny are vital in approaching transformational change in policing practice. The book concludes with a discussion around how these findings can help with police confidence and legitimacy in the future. A fundamental examination of the ideas underpinning how women’s integration and continuation in policing has happened, where it is currently, and where it may go, Women in Policing will be of great interest to police practitioners and students as well as Criminology, Sociology, and Law and Policing scholars.

This anthology explores the ways in which women of color are monitored, criminalized and regulated.

In 1845 women entered the career of policing, and ever since it’s been an evolving history for them. There are countless stories of women shaping this career, adding particular gifts and abilities to the profession. There are, also, countless stories of their struggles to fit in and survive in this “all-boys club.” Thriving in an All Boys Club: Female Police and Their Fight for Equality examines one of the most debated issues surrounding female police officers – their ability to find acceptance in the male subculture. Through the stories of women who joined policing in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, readers learn that women’s acceptance in policing is complex and officer’s experiences are wide-ranging. Stories of resistance and harassment by colleagues, the glass ceiling in promotion, and gender specific obstacles related to pregnancy and childcare are common. Their stories show a strong sense of determination and perseverance to perform the duties of police officer. The potential for enduring change in the field of policing is growing as women continue to make strides in achieving high ranks, breaking down assignments barriers, and ensuring just opportunities for future generations of female police officers. Despite the struggles that women face to survive in the “all-boys club” of policing, women not only survive, most thrive in this almost exclusively male occupation.

Today, we take female police officers and workers for granted. But what is the truth behind the scenes? Author Janis Appier traces the origins of women in police work beginning in 1910, explaining how pioneer policewomen's struggles to gain footholds in big city police departments ironically helped to make modern police work one of the more male dominated occupations in the United States. 12 illustrations.