Jobs for the Girls?
| Published date | 01 September 1966 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455056601200306 |
| Author | Sheila Himmel |
| Date | 01 September 1966 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
affected. Nevertheless, it is obvious that in these circumstances women and girls
may be seen by a male officer.
As stated above, these limitations do not apply to other services. Children in
the care of the children’s service may be under an officer of either sex and girls
leaving approved schools may, if referred to the children’s service, be under an
officer of either sex, but if referred to the probation service must be under a
female officer.
We appreciate the possible objection to the removal of this Clause from the
Fifth Schedule on the grounds that a court should not have authority to direct
a woman to report to a man or to receive visits from a male officer in her home.
In addition, however, to the considerations set out above, it should be stressed
that in any case the court does not name the probation officer who is to super-
vise and, as the use of male officers for the supervision of women and girls
would still be the exception rather than the rule, where it occurred it would be
a matter for arrangement by senior or principal probation officers when assess-
ing the needs of the case and caseloads in the department. Such a departure
from the probationer’s expectations would naturally be discussed with her as
well as the proposed supervising officer at the beginning of the supervision, and
any feelings and fears either might have in the matter would be taken into
account. A refusal by a woman or a girl to accept such supervision could not,
to any reasonable person, constitute grounds for proceedings for a breach of a
probation order.
The Association’s proposal that the law should be amended by the removal
of this provision is not meant to suggest that there should be a general reversal
of present practice, but only that there should be flexibility in the system at a
time when casework methods are developing and becoming highly professional.
There are instances where, in the context of their family histories, a woman or
a girl may be helped more constructively by establishing a positive relationship
with a man than with a woman. Moreover, it is sometimes found to be valuable
to use group work in probation, and an officer may feel, on occasion, that a
mixed group is appropriate, particularly in dealing with some adolescent
problems.
JOBS FOR THE GIRLS?
Sheila Himmel
Middlesex Probation Area
ONE OF THE lesser anxieties arising from proposals to alter the functions of .the
probation service relates to the work of women officers. In accordance with
Probation Rules, women supervise all females who are subject to probation or
supervision orders or to statutory after-care, most of these being juveniles, as
women comprise a relatively small proportion of adult offenders. In accordance
with tradition, women offices also supervise young boys but not, in the
country as a whole, older adolescent boys or men. It has been estimated, there-
fore, that should the proposals outlined in the White Paper The Child, The
Family and The Young Offender to remove all juvenile work from the probation
service be fully implemented, the statutory case-loads of women probation
officers would be cut by about half.
96
This is not a major anxiety because there will be more than enough work to
be done by the service as a whole. New functions in relation to the adult
offender have been and will be added, even if the juvenile offender does go
out of existence, which now seems to be less imminent than was expected. The
question will be how to distribute the work. Already many people have siezed
upon the idea that work with prisoners’ wives and families is a suitable category
of work for women officers. This may be so. It is time, however, to stop thinking
about categories of work in this context and to consider the allocation of
cases more in the light of the needs of the clients. Too much in the past cases
have been allocated by rule of thumb or from purely practical considerations,
too little on the basis of diagnosis and proposed treatment.
Practical factors will always bc relevant to a...
To continue reading
Request your trial