Despite the advancements that women have been able to accomplish within the field of policing, there are still obstacles for them to overcome. One type of challenge that women tend to face in policing revolves around personal difficulties they’ll feel during their career. Another challenge women will face in policing is from police organization they work with. Finally, colleagues can also serve as a barrier to women in policing. Although women are slowly growing in the police force, they still encounter problems within law enforcement.
PERSONAL
Within policing, female officer will tend to encounter numerous challenges on a personal level. For example, women in law enforcement aren’t large in numbers, meaning they are easily pointed out and examined thoroughly by other personnel (Seklecki & Paynich, 2007, p. 19). Another challenge that women face is the difficulty of networking due to the fact this type of practice is a male-oriented practice, and that these lack of networks can make it more difficult for female officers in handling certain police events (Gächter, Savage, & Torgler, 2011, p. 72). Female officers also face difficulties in law enforcement when trying to manage their time at work and with their family equally as the job doesn’t provide much opportunity to adjust their schedule (Gächter et al, 2011, p. 72). Female police officers also face a difficult task regarding their work because they are suppose to do their job around the level of their male counterparts, along with retaining how a female should act (Seklecki & Paynich, 2007, p. 19). Personal challenges are a tough challenge for female police officers since it revolves around primarily the barriers they might put up.
ORGANIZATIONAL
Another obstacle that female police officers face revolves around the barriers that are put in place by the police department. As stated earlier, female officers feel more pressure because of the lack of other minorities within their police department, which can lead to them distance themselves and can delay their rise within the ranks (Gächter et al. 2011, p. 70). With regards to equipment, uniforms can be another potential issue regarding the size that female officers need to choose (Seklecki & Paynich, 2007, p. 20). A major obstacle that women face revolves around the issues they face while they’re pregnant, which is only briefly addressed in the Family and Medical Leave Act (Kingshott, 2013, p. 397). Minority female officres will also face racial discrimination from their fellow colleagues, mainly from male officers (Carmen, Greene, Nation, & Osho, 2007, p. 284). However, several issues still remain regarding pregnant police officers ranging from the types of benefits they receive to restricting them to less harmful tasks while they’re pregnant (Kingshott, 2013, p. 397). The organizational challenges that are presented to women mainly revolve around the lack of support from their department.
COLLEAGUES
The final obstacle that women face in policing is potential conflict they may have with their fellow workers. For example, there are still certain standards that women are not suppose to break, which mainly revolve around their choice of words if they choose to swear or not (Kingshott, 2013, p. 373). They also tend to face harassment from their fellow coworkers, which is mainly sexual in nature, which can range from jokes to unwanted physical contact (Kingshott, 2013, p. 378). Other obstacles that might obstruct women in policing is that they don't possess the necessary physical and mental qualities that are required for this field (Seklecki & Paynich, 2007, p. 18). Any sign of a mistake committed by a female police officer is also labeled on every other female officer (Seklecki & Paynich, 2007, p. 19). Colleagues are one of the bigger challenges women in policing face due to the various forms of unethical behavior.