Criminal Justice

written discussion post regarding the issues facing women when working in the criminal justice field.

First, discuss three contemporary challenges women who work in law enforcement continue to face.
Then, for each challenge, discuss potential solutions.

ANSWER

Issues Facing Women in the Law Enforcement Sector

Female officers face discrimination from their male counterparts who doubt that women can perform equally as they do. This makes women feel inferior and undermined because they possess an equal capacity. For instance, a high profile leader can offer male officers massive opportunities and disregard the female ones. Men feel that this is a male-dominated field and are thus likely to discriminate against female law enforcement officers (Veldman et al., 2017). This portrays discrimination as one of the contemporary issues that these professionals encounter. Addressing this issue calls for awareness creation to ensure that male officers understand that women have similar capabilities and opportunities to participate in this industry.

The other key challenge is lower pay because their work is viewed as less demanding compared to men. Research shows that female work is often underpaid and undervalued in the law enforcement industry (Jamil & Mohyuddin, 2015). This is because they are deemed as more likely to engage in less demanding tasks and physical stamina. Thus, they receive a lower pay that does not always substantiate their work. Leaders based in law enforcement institutions should equalize pay packages and ensure that they provide female officers with the same opportunities as male officers.

The last problem that female law enforcement professionals encounter is poor decision-making processes. They are not allowed to make critical decisions revolving around crucial matters that they handle. For instance, Jamil and Mohyuddin (2015) study show that female officers cannot register a case unless they have clearance from a male superior. This shows the low engagement in decision-making processes that these female officers encounter in the workplace. The best way of handling this is to develop a policy that incorporates women as decision-makers in this field. This will ensure that all male superiors allow women to become partisans to decision-making processes.

References

Jamil, A., & Mohyuddin, A. (2015). General problems faced by the Women Police. The Explorer Islamabad: Journal of Social Sciences, 1(7), 255-263.

Veldman, J., Meeussen, L., Van Laar, C., & Phalet, K. (2017). Women (do not) Belong Here: Gender-work identity conflict among female police officers. Frontiers in psychology, 8, 130. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00130