Policing Women

Delving behind Canada’s veneer of multiculturalism and tolerance, Policing Black Lives traces the violent realities of anti-blackness from the slave ships to prisons, classrooms and beyond. Robyn Maynard provides readers with the first comprehensive account of nearly four hundred years of state-sanctioned surveillance, criminalization and punishment of Black lives in Canada. While highlighting the ubiquity of Black resistance, Policing Black Lives traces the still-living legacy of slavery across multiple institutions, shedding light on the state’s role in perpetuating contemporary Black poverty and unemployment, racial profiling, law enforcement violence, incarceration, immigration detention, deportation, exploitative migrant labour practices, disproportionate child removal and low graduation rates. Emerging from a critical race feminist framework that insists that all Black lives matter, Maynard’s intersectional approach to anti-Black racism addresses the unique and understudied impacts of state violence as it is experienced by Black women, Black people with disabilities, as well as queer, trans, and undocumented Black communities. A call-to-action, Policing Black Lives urges readers to work toward dismantling structures of racial domination and re-imagining a more just society.

"Women in Policing provides an insight into women's role within policing, their emergence and development, offering a theoretical underpinning to explore this role as well as incorporating two empirical studies, one which reassesses the lived experiences of female officers, and one based on FOI requests to examine police officer disciplinary offences in three police force areas. The book begins by exploring some of the history of ideas in relation to ideas about women and their supposed nature. Cunningham shows how a variety of feminist ideas and critique are of vital importance in illuminating and critiquing the place of women within this field and provides a feminist lens with which to explore these themes critically. The book also examines the re-emergence of these ideas about women in current women and policing literature. Together exploration of these sources using a feminist conceptual framework facilitates a new, rich analysis that is both reflective and reflexive, culminating in a novel snapshot of the place of women in policing in England. She argues that accepting both institutional racism and institutional misogyny are vital in approaching transformational change in policing practice. The book concludes with discussion around how these findings can help with police confidence and legitimacy in the future. A fundamental examination of the ideas underpinning how women's integration and continuation in policing has happened, where it is currently and where it may go, Women in Policing will be of great interest to police practitioners and students as well as Criminology, Sociology and Law and Policing scholars"--

In Policing the Womb, Michele Goodwin explores how states abuse laws and infringe on rights to police women and their pregnancies. This book looks at the impact of these often arbitrary laws which can result in the punishment, incarceration, and humiliation of women, particularly poor women and women of color. Frequently based on unscientific claims of endangering a fetus, these laws allow extraordinary powers to state authorities over reproductive freedom and pregnancies. In this book, Michele Goodwin discusses real examples of women whose pregnancies have been controlled by the law and what has led to the United States being the deadliest country in the developed world for a woman to be pregnant.

Today, we take female police officers and workers for granted. But what is the truth behind the scenes? Author Janis Appier traces the origins of women in police work beginning in 1910, explaining how pioneer policewomen's struggles to gain footholds in big city police departments ironically helped to make modern police work one of the more male dominated occupations in the United States. 12 illustrations.

This is the first book to look at women in policing in the mainland of the People’s Republic of China. Informed by empirical data as well as rich secondary information drawn from a wide range of published materials, and written by a former police officer in China, this book offers a detailed discussion of key issues concerning women in the Chinese police. Mainly drawing on face-to-face interviews with police officers and student probationers in multiple force areas, Women Police in Contemporary China offers rich insights into women’s lives in Chinese policing. The book first discusses how Chinese women were introduced to the male-only organisation and their representation in the Chinese police today. It elaborates women’s experiences as female officers in the police and, more specifically, their everyday work, contributions to policing, women police’s own perceptions of their roles and positions in the police profession and the gendered challenges and concerns facing them. It also looks at police occupational culture from a gendered lens. This book is illuminating reading for all those engaged in policing studies, gender and justice, policymaking, comparative criminal justice and all those interested in a woman’s role in the Chinese police.

Policing Women examines for the first time the changing historical landscape of women’s experiences of their contact with the official state police between 1800 and 1950 in the Western world. Drawing on and going beyond existing knowledge about policing practices, the volume discusses how women encountered the official police, how they experienced that contact, and the outcomes of that contact in the modern Western world. In so doing, it is an original and much needed addition to the literature around changes in policing, women’s experiences of the criminal justice system, and women’s experiences of control and regulation. The chapters uncover such experiences in a range of countries across Europe, the USA, Canada, and Australia. Importantly, the collection focuses upon a crucial epoch in the history of policing – a 150-year period when policing was rapidly changing and being increasingly placed on a formal level. Bringing together scholarly work from expert contributors, this unique volume draws to the fore women’s experiences of policing. It will be of great use to both scholars and students on undergraduate and postgraduate criminology and history courses, working on the history of crime, historical criminology, the history of criminal justice, and women’s history.

It is often said that a woman must do a job twice as well as a man in order to get half the credit. This is particularly true of women in law enforcement. Women have been involved in various forms of policing for the last 100 years, but it wasn't until the Equal Employment Act of 1970 that women could move from the job of meter maids to patrol and detective work. Yet less than 1% of all top-level cops are women, and there remain significant obstacles in the career paths of women in the force. This book looks at the history of women police officers and provides first-hand accounts of women at every level, including those who drop out. It addresses discrimination, competition, lack of mentoring, differential treatment and sexual harrassment, examining what issues play into the decision to stick it out or leave that many policewomen face. It also considers the family issues these women return home to at the end of the day. It is often said that a woman must do a job twice as well as a man in order to get half the credit. This is particularly true of women in law enforcement. Women have been involved in various forms of policing for the last 100 years, but it wasn't until the Equal Employment Act of 1970 that women could move from the job of meter maids to patrol and detective work. Yet less than 1% of all top-level cops are women, and there remain significant obstacles in the career paths of women in the force. This book looks at the history of women police officers and provides first-hand accounts of women at every level, including those who drop out. It addresses discrimination, competition, lack of mentoring, differential treatment, and sexual harrassment. It looks at what plays into the decision to stick it out or leave that many policewomen face. It also considers the family issues these women return home to at the end of the day. Unlike other treatments of the subject, Alt and Wells show how women have changed police work into a more community-oriented model of policing, reduced police violence, served as a strong force to promote a more effective response to domestic violence within police departments, and helped with community-police relations. With a combination of first-hand accounts, careful research, and lively analysis, the authors are able to convey the actual experiences of women who have made their careers behind the shield.

Women in Policing around the World is a historical, legal, political, and social examination of women in policing. The book opens with a comparison of cultural definitions of gender and how this affects women's work in general and policing specifically. The book then takes the reader through women in policing in the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, featuring several countries within the major regions of the world. Major commonalities and differences are identified in the areas of recruitment, training, deployment, promotion, and violence against women. Among the key features of this book is a balanced coverage of historical and timely events that led to the current status of women police in their respective countries. The book identifies the commonalities that women police experience throughout the world, relying on the most current research. The book also dedicates coverage of policing violence against women in society as well as within the police organization itself. The author includes tables to allow for national comparisons throughout the book, as well as current and historical photos. This book is intended for researchers and students of police culture and women in policing. It does not rely heavily on one country or region, thus allowing for an enlightening international comparison.