Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
ABSTRACT
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first woman chief constable. Almost a decade later, despite modest increases, there has
been little change at the top of Britains
police organisations. Whilst Wall (1998) is
right to hail Pauline Clares appointment as
a critical juncture in police history, marking
the end of the traditional male dominance
of the office of chief constable, his suggestion that it also signals the end of patriarchy may be somewhat premature and
overstated. Theoretically, the glass ceiling in
the police service has been broken there
are no legitimate reasons why women cannot achieve the same positions as their male
counterparts. The reality, however, is that
women nationally continue to find themselves underrepresented at senior rank and
only 8 per cent of officers at the rank of
chief inspector and above are female
(Christopherson & Cotton, 2004). With the
glass ceiling now fractured, the usefulness of
drawing upon it as an explanatory tool for
making sense of womens absence at the top
has becoming increasingly redundant. How
then are we to make sense of the continued
underrepresentation of women in police
leadership?
Ironically, and rather disturbingly,
through emphasising womens freedom to
enter and progress within organisations, discussions in broader organisational circles are
taking an unwarranted and somewhat retrograde step in reinforcing the idea that
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and preserved (Acker, 1992). Before elaborating on the theoretical framework that
underpins this work, a brief insight into the
methodology employed in this study now
follows.
A METHODOLOGICAL NOTE
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September 2003, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) argued that, Long hours,
greater pressure of work, flexibility that
only suits the employer and stress are the
biggest problems in todays workplace. The
Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC)
reinforces this by arguing that Britains
long-hours culture is bad for men, women
and families . . . [it] prevents many men
who wish to play a fuller part in their
childrens lives from doing so. It also blocks
the progress of many women towards senior
positions at work, because these sorts of
hours are incompatible with responsibility
for a family (EOC, 2004, 4). The inclusion
and movement towards more flexible working practices incorporating an improved
work-life balance is being hailed as indicative of organisations that are serious about
developing and managing diversity successfully within their organisations. The positive
effects of alternative working practices are
wide and far-reaching and raise important
questions for the career progression of all
police officers. More specifically, the gendered effects of such change may hold significant implications for the progression of
women.
In contextualising senior policewomens
experiences it might be useful to remind
ourselves here that despite the formal integration of women into policing in the mid1970s and a barrage of new directives and
systems to develop more creative and all
encompassing equal opportunities for
police officers, women, regardless of rank,
continue to experience hostility and resistance within the police organisation. To suggest that the nature and substance of police
work and identity are characterised by a
cult of masculinity (Reiner, 1992) remains
uncontested within the police literature.
In deciphering the cult of masculinity,
Fielding (1994) argues that its stereotypical
values of aggression, physicality, competitiveness and its exaggerated heterosexual
orientation, may be read as an almost pure
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form of hegemonic masculinity. The ruinous effects of this are all too evident in the
research that continues to confirm the idea
that whilst integration has occurred theoretically, women (and indeed some men)
are not fully accepted by their male colleagues and continue to be subject to sexual
harassment, discrimination and differential
deployment (Adams, 2001; Brown, 1997;
Brown & Heidensohn, 2000; Burke, 1993;
Chan, 1997; Feinman, 1986; Fielding,
1988; Fielding, 1994; Heidensohn, 1992;
Holdaway, 1983; Reiner, 1992; Smith &
Gray, 1983; Waddington, 1999; Young,
1991). Before making sense of policewomens own experiences the next section
outlines some of the structural tenets that
govern the police career, for it is here that
we can begin to understand the way in
which time is firmly grounded within the
very structure and fabric of the police
career.
THERES ONLY ONE WAY UP
FROM THE BOTTOM AND WITHIN
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the requirements for on call decisionmaking, under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 serve as a continuing barrier
and justification against the development of
flexibility. Research conducted by the
Superintendents Association has, however,
questioned the need for on call decisions
to be taken by superintendents and suggested that many chief inspectors felt that
such requirements were archaic and did not
fit with the strategic role of superintendents
in modern policing (Davies, 1998). The
current position is that no member of staff
has an absolute right to work part-time but
they do have a right to have their applications considered (Police Regulations,
2003). Whether senior officers take up the
opportunity to alter their working patterns
remains to be seen but the changes are
welcome. So how have senior policewomen
managed their time in policing? And to
what extent have they been able to balance
their personal commitments with those
necessary to develop a career in policing?
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officers and it is anticipated that more flexible forms of entry will serve to enhance
womens progression through the ranks.
CONCLUSION
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