Discrimination against Women in the United States Police force Essay

Discrimination against Women in the United States Police force - Essay Example According to Barbara Raffel Price (1996), â€Å"In the United States police departments must hire people without regard to race or gender. However, in policing, gender integration and the opportunity for women to participate in forming police policy has been strongly resisted† (Price, 1996). Discriminations in all forms were prohibited by law in America. However, the custodians of law or the law implementers itself are the major culprits in breaking laws as far as women discrimination in police forces in America are concerned. This paper analyses the discrimination against women in the United States police force. Acceptance of policewomen by policemen The following table gives a brief idea of acceptance of policewomen by police men at various parts of the world. Levels of Eastern Europe Western Europe Britain USA Acceptance % % % % Accepted by all 28 16 17 6 Policemen Accepted by 57 72 59 61 Most policemen Accepted by 7 7 16 20 Some policemen Accepted by few 7 4 3 9 Policemen Accepted by no 0 1 1 3 Policemen (Brown, 1996) From the above table, it is evident that policewomen acceptance by all policemen in America is extremely low compared to that in other parts of the world. In other words, American policewomen are suffering huge discrimination compared to policewomen in other parts of the world. American policemen do not keep a positive attitude towards policewomen. â€Å"Male officers anticipate women failing; they doubt women can equal men in most job skills; they do not see women officers as doing "real" police work; and they perpetuate myths about women's lack of emotional fitness† (Price, 1996). Even before giving an opportunity to the policewomen to prove their abilities, male police officers in America rate them as inferior to policemen. Thus American policewomen do not get enough opportunities to prove their credentials because of the negative attitudes of the superior male officers. Many of the superior male police officers have the illus ion that the role of policewomen is to assist policemen rather than participate in the actual policing work. Just like a woman doing a secretary post in an organization, policewomen in America forced to do secretarial jobs. Not only in job allocation, but also in promotion, deployment, training and overtime works, American policewomen suffering lot of discriminations. The following table provides a rough idea about these discriminations suffered by American police women compared to other policewomen in other parts of the world. Reported discrimination by policewomen Areas of Eastern Europe Western Europe Britain USA Discrimination % % % % Promotion 14 26 18 45 Deployment 28 29 55 60 Training 14 24 25 47 Overtime 114 37 19 19 (Brown, 1996) From the above table, it is evident that 45% of American policewomen are suffering discriminations related to promotion whereas policewomen in other parts of the world are suffering comparatively less discriminations with respect to promotions. In the case of deployment and training also, American policewomen suffering a lot compared to other policewomen. It should be noted that American policewomen are getting less training even though the policemen are getting best training in the world. In other words, American police force is not at all giving any importance to the contributions to the policewomen. In their opinion, policewomen are only supporting staff and therefore they need less training. Fuller (2006) pointed out a case in which