Gender

1
Gender Work In Criminal Justice SystemsDr.
Michelle L. Meloy
2
Women work...a look back

• Womens work was devalued and regulated to the
  private sphere
• Restricting womens work to domestic and
  childcare duties was viewed as protective
• 1970s was the first time sexual discrimination
  was seen as a serious legal issue
• By the end of the 1980s, many legal protections
  implemented
• Jobs continue to be segregated by gender and
  womens work garners lowest wages
• Wage gap women earn only .76 for each dollar
  men earn

3
Intersection of race, gender work

• White women have faired better in the work force
  than women of color
• Double marginality 2 strikes against black women
• Triple jeopardy 3 strikes against poor black
  women
• Frontiero v Richardson (1973) Among 1st
  successful sex discrimination cases part of the
  victory is attributed to the comparison of sexual
  discrimination to racial discriminatory practices

4
Legal rationales for restricting womens job
opportunities

• Women are weak emotionally, intellectually and
  physically inferior to men
• Maternal children society harmed if women are
  not present in the home
• Marriage dictates womens role in private sector
  mans in the public

5
Women as criminal justice professionals

• Legal pressure in the form of 1972 Civil Rights
  Act (Title VII) and civil lawsuits are credited
  for lifting gender barriers for womens
  employment
• Excluding womens right to work in male prisons
  was not challenged until the 1970s
• Equal access has not translated into equal
  representation or equal power for women workers

6
4 problem areas for women in criminal justice
fields

• Preferential treatment excluding women from
  realities of the job, like working with violent
  offenders/clients
• High(est) expectations women professionals must
  do more to prove equal worth
• Lose-lose situation w/ social-professional
  networks access is limited/misunderstood by
  others
• Sex-stereotyping job assignments based on
  inherent qualities of women

7
Women entering criminal justice fields The role
of tokens

• Token someone identified by certain
  characteristics beliefs about the represented
  group and/or culture as a token you represent
  all your people
• Token members belong to the under-represented
  group and to survive they must play by the rules
  of the dominant group
• Token status outsider status

8
Tokenism and women

• Understanding womens experiences in cj positions
  goes beyond looking at their numerical presence
• Women people of color encounter the glass
  ceiling effect
• The laws allow them to get their feet in the door
  but once inside, opportunities are blocked

9
Tokenism and men

• Tokenism works differently for men entering
  traditional female occupations
• Men entering womens jobs encounter the
  escalator effect
• Their presence is welcomed and they often rise to
  the top of the ranks very quickly