TY - JOUR
T1 - Sugar and spice … and a badge and a gun
T2 - A cross-national descriptive comparison of women’s involvement in policing
AU - Gibbs, Jennifer C.
AU - Ruiz, James
AU - Klapper-Lehman, Sarah Anne
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2015.
PY - 2015/9
Y1 - 2015/9
N2 - Women’s involvement in policing has been an area of study in the United States, but research in other countries has been sporadic. Comparative research, in particular, is scant in the literature on women’s involvement in policing. To address this gap in knowledge, this study explores differences between countries with high and low proportions of officers who are female. Qualitatively comparing these countries, several distinctions emerged between countries with a small percentage (< 5%) of female police (Albania, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Japan) and countries with a high percentage (> 18%) of female police (Estonia, Slovenia, Sweden, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom). Four of the five low percentage countries are located in Asia, with a higher population density, homicide rate and economic inequality (as measured by the Gini Index) than most of the countries with a high percentage of female officers. These low percentage countries also have yet to abolish capital punishment, whereas all high percentage countries have done so. In addition, two of the low percentage countries, but none of the high percentage countries, were involved in a civil war during the data collection period; two of the high percentage countries, but no low percentage countries, were involved in interstate war. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.
AB - Women’s involvement in policing has been an area of study in the United States, but research in other countries has been sporadic. Comparative research, in particular, is scant in the literature on women’s involvement in policing. To address this gap in knowledge, this study explores differences between countries with high and low proportions of officers who are female. Qualitatively comparing these countries, several distinctions emerged between countries with a small percentage (< 5%) of female police (Albania, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Japan) and countries with a high percentage (> 18%) of female police (Estonia, Slovenia, Sweden, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom). Four of the five low percentage countries are located in Asia, with a higher population density, homicide rate and economic inequality (as measured by the Gini Index) than most of the countries with a high percentage of female officers. These low percentage countries also have yet to abolish capital punishment, whereas all high percentage countries have done so. In addition, two of the low percentage countries, but none of the high percentage countries, were involved in a civil war during the data collection period; two of the high percentage countries, but no low percentage countries, were involved in interstate war. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.
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U2 - 10.1177/1461355715596308
DO - 10.1177/1461355715596308
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85084052830
VL - 17
SP - 155
EP - 163
JO - International Journal of Police Science and Management
JF - International Journal of Police Science and Management
SN - 1461-3557
IS - 3
ER -