Female Police Officers in the Winnipeg Police Service: A Case Study Exploring Experiences, Perceptions and Gender Dynamics by Candida Sousa A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements fol the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of Sociology Univelsity of Manitoba Winnipeg, Manitoba O Candida Sousa September'2005 Library and Bibliothèque et 0-494-08974-1 l*l Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de l'édition 395 Wellinoton Street 395, rue Wellinoton Ottawa OtfKlA 0N4 Ottawa ON K1Ã0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre référence /SB/Vi Our file Notre rèÍê¡ence /SBNI NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exctus¡ve exclusive license allofoing Library permettant à la Bibliothèque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserue, conserve, sauvegarder, conseryer, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par télécommunication ou par I'lnternet, prêter, telecommunication or on the lnternet dístribuer et vendre des thèses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, à des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non- sur support microforme, papier, électronique commercial pur,poses, in microform, eUou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriété du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protège cette thèse. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. ln compliance w¡th the Canadian Conformément à la foi canadienne Privacy Act some supportÍng sur la protection de la vie privée, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont été enlevés de cette thèse. While these forms may be íncluded Bien que ces formulaíres in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. l*I Canada TIIE UNIYERSITY OF' MANITOBA FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDMS COPYRIGHT PERMISSION PAGE Female Police Officers in the Winnipeg Police Service: A Case Study Exploring Experiences, Perceptions and Gender Dynamics BY Candida Sousa A Thesis/Practicum submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Manitoba in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of MASTER OF ARTS CANDIDA SOUSA@2005 Permission has been granted to the Library of The University of'Manitoba to lend or sell copies of this thesis/practicum, to the National Library of Canada to microfìlm this thesis and to lend or sell copies of the film, and to University Microfilm Inc. to publish an abstract of this thesis/practicum. The author reserves other publication rights, and neither this thesis/practicum nor extensive extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's written permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract .... pagei Acknowledgment page ii Introduction .... page 1 Chapter One Women in Policing: What the Literature Tells Us . .... page 5 Chapter Two Methodology .... .. page 40 Chapter Three TheJugglingAct. .... page60 Chapter Four In Competition: FemaleOfficer'sCamaraderie ... .. page84 Chapter Five Sexualization, Camaraderie and Discrimination.. .... page103 Chapter Six Gendered Modes of Policing page 135 Conclusion .... page158 ReferencesCited ..... pagelT{ APPENDICES Appendix A: LettertoRespondents.. ..... page 182 Appendix B: Informed ConsentForm ....page 184 Appendix C: Questions and Probes . page 186 Appendix D: Close Ended Questions page192 ABSTRACT Women entering predominantly male professions such as policing are often faced with gender-related obstacles and challenges. In order to understand why women have been resisted in policing, it is necessary to recogntze the dynamics of the police culture. Policing involves an informal work-group cohesion based, in lalge part, on men's shared definition of theil masculinity (Martin, 1980: 79). This work environment creates challenges for female police officers to break through the baniers created by male cultural norms and become integral members of the police service. To explore female officers' experiences of wolking in an occupation dominated by a male culture, a multiple-method case study apploach was used that involved qualitative interviews with 25 female police officers of the Winnipeg Police Service (WPS), a short quantitative questionnaire on general job satisfaction levels and an analysis of relevant documents plovided by the WPS. The face-to-face interviews allowed the women to express themselves freely about theil perceptions and experiences as female police officers. They discussed issues that wele impotant to them regarding how their work and personal life intermingle, including family and work issues, advancement opportunities, camaladerie among peers, gendered styles of policing and harassment and discrimination within the service. The women explore ideas of improving their workplace and share experiences whicli show that male cultural norms of the workplace still exist to create a chilly climate for female officers. ACKNOWLBDGMENTS I would like to take this oppoltunity to thank those who helped me along in my journey. Without your suppolt my work could not be realtzed. Filst and foremost I would like to thank my committee members, Rick Linden, Elizabeth Comack and Julie Guard, fol their help, insight and encouragement along the course of my project. Thank you for all your hard work in helping me create a thesis I could be ploud of. Your suggestions challenged me to think beyond the taken for granted and look into what lies beneath the surface. I would like to thank Police Chief Jack Ewatski, Superintendent Corrine Scott and the Policewomen's Network of the Winnipeg Police Service for being intelested in my study and allowing me the breadth of freedom to conduct it. Thank you fol inviting me to your Policewomen's Conference and for allowing me to go on a ride-along with Patrol Sergeant Susan Swan. Those experiences opened my mind as to what challenges our police officers face and what a resilient team of people work to help keep our city safe. A special thanks goes to Sergeant Michele Benoit for being my contact person in the service. You have been an invaluable resource and I thank you greatly fol your kindness, friendliness and persistence in helping find the information I needed. Thanks also to Staff Selgeant Blail Vogen for taking the time to look for the WPS statistics I requested. To the female officers who participated in my study, I thank each and every one of you for taking the time out of your already busy schedules to talk to me about lll your work, your lives and your thoughts. I hold every one of you in the highest regard. You spoke candidly and boldly. I was enthlalled by your experiences and stories. Your stories made me laugh with you, be angly with yor"r and be sad with you. I can honestly say that it was one of the best experiences of my life. Finally to my family and friends, thank you fol believing in me and helping me through the course of my studies. It has been a long load and you stood by me and encoulaged me to go on. Most impofiantly to John, my husband, thank you for' your patience and support all these years. You helped me persevere when the going got tough and always believed in my work and ability. Thank you for being there, even when I had my nose in the books. As we often say, we work hard now for promises of good things to come. Thank you so much for being my rock. INTRODUCTION Women entering pledominantly male professions such as policing are often faced with gender-related obstacles and challenges. Although women have been officels in Canada since the early 1900s, female ofïcers are still expeliencing the negative effects of traditional attitudes of male superiority. In other words, there are various socially-embedded gender stereotypes which often play out in predominantly male occLlpations. These steleotypes manifest themselves in ways that are contrary to the interests of the minority group of women on the force. In order to understand why women have been resisted in policing, it is necessary to recognize the dynamics of the police culture. Policing was created by men to enforce the laws of the state. Policing involves an informal work-group cohesion which is based, in large part, on men's shared definition of their masculinity (Martin, 1980:79). In her study of police officer s, Martin explains that, "The integratlon of women into police pzrtrol work as co-workers threatens to compromise the work, the way of life, the social status, and the self-image of the men in one of the most stereotypically masculine occupations in our society" (Martin, 1980: 79). Furthermore, police departments have adopted a paramilitaly model of organization with a hierarchical and bureaucratic structure. This structure may make entry into policing even more difficult for women as the culture is exclusionary, still being shaped by and for men (Pinch, 2002: 5). Culture is learned from previous 2 generations, bloadly shared by membels and contains agreed-upon symbols that "help people create and make sense of their world" (Pinch, 2002:5). In his study of the Canadian Forces, Pinch explains that the "traditional culture" (of military and paramilitaly alike) is deemed necessary fol optimizing or even maximtzing effectiveness in the combat arms (Pinch ,2002:3). Historically, traditional masculine culture has included an emphasis on aggressiveness, physical plowess, male rites of passage and other male bonding rituals. This mascuÌine culture forms the core of social cohesion, esprit de colps and success in war-fighting largely because it is a physically and mentally male-dominated arena.