Sugar and spice … and a badge and a gun revisited
| Author | Sarah Anne Klapper-Lehman,James Ruiz,Jennifer C Gibbs |
| DOI | 10.1177/1461355715596312 |
| Published date | 01 September 2015 |
| Date | 01 September 2015 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Sugar and spice ... and a badge
and a gun revisited: The relationship
between state-level conflict and
women’s involvement in policing
Jennifer C Gibbs
The Pennsylvania State University, Capital College at Harrisburg, School of Public Affairs, Criminal Justice Program,
Middletown, PA, USA
James Ruiz
The Pennsylvania State University, Capital College at Harrisburg, School of Public Affairs, Criminal Justice Program,
Middletown, PA, USA
Sarah Anne Klapper-Lehman
The Pennsylvania State University, Capital College at Harrisburg, School of Public Affairs, Criminal Justice Program,
Middletown, PA, USA
Abstract
Women’s involvement in policing has been an area of study in the United States, but research in other countries has been
sporadic. Comparative research, in particular, is scant in the literature on women’s involvement in policing. To address
this gap in knowledge, this study examines factors influencing the proportion of police who are women in 36 countries.
Earlier work qualitatively comparing the countries with the highest and lowest proportions of women police suggested
several common predictors, which were tested quantitatively using Tobit regression. Similar to the United States,
where war created opportunities for women, countries involved in war with other countries have a higher proportion
of women police. Interestingly, countries involved in civil war had a lower proportion of women police, as did more
populous countries. Additionally, presence of the death penalty led to a greater proportion of women police, although
this predictor only approached significance (p< .10). Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.
Keywords
Women, female, police, cross-national research, war
Submitted 01 Apr 2015, accepted 21 Jun 2015
Introduction
Although women’s involvement in policing in the United
States has been a focus of research, studies on this topic
in other countries are limited and cross-national compar-
isons are scant. To address this gap in the literature,
(Gibbs, Ruiz and Klapper-Lehman, 2015) qualitatively
compared countries with the highest and lowest percen-
tages of women police officers. Countries with a low per-
centage (< 5%) – Albania, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia
andJapan–sharedsomecommondistinctionsfromcoun-
tries with a high percentage – Estonia, Slovenia, Sweden,
the Netherlands and the United Kingdom – namely, their
Corresponding author:
Jennifer C. Gibbs, The Pennsylvania State University, Capital College at
Harrisburg, School of Public Affairs, Criminal Justice Program. 777 W.
Harrisburg Pike, Middletown, PA 17057, USA.
Email: jengibbs@psu.edu
International Journalof
Police Science & Management
2015, Vol. 17(3) 164–169
ªThe Author(s) 2015
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DOI: 10.1177/1461355715596312
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