Representative bureaucracy: does female police leadership affect gender-based violence arrests?
| Published date | 01 March 2018 |
| Date | 01 March 2018 |
| Author | Karen Johnston,John Houston |
| DOI | 10.1177/0020852315619222 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
International Review of
Administrative Sciences
2018, Vol. 84(1) 3–20
!The Author(s) 2016
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DOI: 10.1177/0020852315619222
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International
Review of
Administrative
Sciences
Article
Representative bureaucracy: does
female police leadership affect
gender-based violence arrests?
Karen Johnston
University of Portsmouth, UK
John Houston
Glasgow Caledonian University, UK
Abstract
Representative bureaucracy theory postulates that passive representation leads to
active representation of minority groups. This article investigates the passive represen-
tation of female police officers at leadership levels and the active representation of
women vis-a-vis gender-based violence arrest rates in the UK. Much of the extant
research on representative bureaucracy is located at street level, with evidenceshowing
that discretionary power of minority bureaucrats can lead to active representation. This
article is focused on leadership levels of a public bureaucracy. The empirical research is
based upon a panel dataset of female police officers as an independent variable and
gender-based violence arrest rates as a dependent variable. The analysis reveals that
there is little evidence of active representation of women by female police leadership.
Points for practitioners
The research offers policy and public service practitioners with empirical evidence to
suggest that representation of minorities is mediated by organizational effects in public
bureaucracies.
Keywords
bureaucracy, crime, gender, police, public administration, representation, women
leadership
Introduction
There is much research on representative bureaucracy often demonstrating the link
between passive and active representation. According to Mosher (1982), passive
Corresponding author:
Karen Johnston, Portsmouth Business School, University of Portsmouth, Richmond Building, Portland Street,
Portsmouth PO1 3DE, UK.
Email: karen.johnston@port.ac.uk
representation refers to the extent of demographic similarities between bureaucrats
and the citizenry. Active representation is when a bureaucrat pursues the interests
and desires of those whom they represent (Mosher, 1968: 11). The research has
sought to explain how and when passive leads to active representation for minority
groups. This study seeks to add to the body of research by investigating represen-
tative bureaucracy at leadership levels of a public bureaucracy as many studies focus
on the bureaucrat–client relationship at street-level engagement. Furthermore,
much of the research is on African-Americans and Latinos as minority groups
within the US context. Research which has been conducted with regard to female
representation is often located in distributive and welfare public sector organiza-
tions such as health, education and social care where there is an over-representation
of women. There are fewer studies which have been conducted within organizations
where there is no tradition of high levels of female employment.
The study therefore investigates the passive and active representation of women
in English and Welsh police forces. Specifically, the study investigates empirically
through regression modelling the relationship between the passive representation of
women in leadership positions of the 43 police forces, and whether there is an active
representation of women in the policy outcomes of gender-based violence. In other
words the research involves examining the distribution of a demographic group
(women as a minority group) within the police service and whether this has an
effect on representing the interests of women through increased arrest rates of
gender-based violence.
Gendered bureaucracy: the police
Despite increasing numbers of female employment in the UK public sector
(53 percent) with 36 percent employed in senior managerial positions, many
women are employed in lower-level administrative positions and most are on
part-time employment contracts (Office for National Statistics, 2013). There is
evidence of vertical occupational gender segregation, with few women in senior
positions as well as horizontal occupational segregation with women concentrated
in stereotypical feminine careers such as education, health and social care (Guy and
Newman, 2004; Human Rights and Equality Commission, 2011; McTavish and
Miller, 2006). The police have historically had low levels of female employment.
Currently, in England and Wales, women represent 27.3 percent of the total police
force (Home Office, 2013).
The patterns of occupational gender segregation in organizations arguably lie in
social construction of gender identity and socialization. Gender identity and
the social construction of sex in society are present in public bureaucracies as
they recruit human resources from society. Duerst-Lahti and Kelly (1995) argue
that gender and power permeate all facets of human interaction and operate within
society and institutions with men controlling social, political and economic insti-
tutions. Thus, the reality for many women in public bureaucracies is that gender
and power relations are patriarchal (Duerst-Lahti and Kelly, 1995; Mazur, 2002;
4International Review of Administrative Sciences 84(1)
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