Question

1. What are some of the obstacle that women have to face being a police officer ?

2. Why do policewomen view their chances of ever being promoted greatly diminished ?

3. Why do women deputes lack acceptance in some dominant male work places ?

Answer 1

Answer 1 . The job of an police officer in itself is a very difficult and challenging one. Every now and then they have to stay alert and complete their duty at times in extremely high risk environment. Talking about women working in such occupations, they are required to constantly stay active and show diligence towards work as well as maintain a balance in personal life. Multitasking between work and home is extremely difficult as the work is very demanding. Certain professions are male-dominated,due to lack of awareness of women, gender roles assigned by the society, past experiences and priorities (whether family or work). Police officers in general has a stereotypical image of being associated with men as it requires a lot of physical strength and endurance, while society expects women to be shy, coy and docile. Even colleagues and subordinates find it difficult to accept women in such power oriented occupations, as in generally being power oriented, ambitious is perceived as a negative trait in women. Even among general public a woman police official has much less acceptance and has an image of incompetence due to femineity. For instance if a woman officer grows her hair long and paints her nails, she is more likely to be perceived incompetent irrespective of her talent, skill and ability. So in male-dominated work they have to internalize the male dominant traits in herself

Answer 2 In majority of work settings there is clear internalization of gender roles in occupation one chooses. Women in general are considered less competent , inactive and no-deserving of authoritative roles. Even male subordinates find it difficult to obey and comply with strict orders if laid by senior women officials. As in corporate setting or any other work environment there is a "glass ceiling effect", which indicates that there is a pre-determined level of position for women in male dominated work culture, irrespective of a woman's effort, hard work , abilities, she can never break the already set level in hierarchy and achieve great success in her career. It is like a invisible glass ceiling (due to concept of gender equality being prevalent in society) that does not allows a woman to achieve heights.

Answer 3. Women deputes lack acceptance in male work places due to internalization of gender roles among people, it is difficult to accept that a woman can be equal or if not better than her male counterparts in power and authority based work settings. Even if a woman is better, it is often associated as a negative trait in a woman to display aggression, power, authority, give commands and even perform duties better than men. Even other women display a form of sexual envy for such high achieving women working in the same position. People including authorities and staff members find women comparatively less competent and less responsible as compared to men.