Does Gender Matter?

Using data from systematic social observations of police-citizen encounters, this work explores gender differences in police utilization of controlling and supporting behaviors. By assessing the impact of intervening situational and organizational factors, the study underscores the conditions under which female officers utilize different behaviors from their male counterparts. Findings suggest that women are much less likely than men to utilize extreme controlling behaviors, such as threats, physical restraint, search, and arrest. Surprisingly, the findings do not support the hypothesis that women are more likely than men to use supporting behaviors or to de-escalate discordant police-citizen encounters. While unexpected, these findings are important. Simply assuming female officers manifest stereotypically feminine traits in policing tasks is clearly an overgeneralization and a simplistic conceptualization of the meaning and impact of gender in policing. The implications for female officers, policing, and future research are discussed.

Cara Rabe-Hemp, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at Illinois State University. She has authored several articles on the integration of women in policing, the use of force by and against policewomen and the gender construction of female police in Feminist Criminology, Policing, Journal of Criminal Justice, and Police Quarterly.