Women police, legitimacy, and ethics of care

Abstract

Calls for more women in policing are often associated with pleas to reform the police, operating under the assumption that women police differently than men and that increasing gender diversity in law enforcement agencies may be a catalyst for organizational change. These assertions are intertwined with attitudes related to how women exercise social control and beliefs about how policing would change if the virtues associated with a feminist ethics of care approach were elevated in the institution. Structural equation modelling was used with a sample of more than 16,000 community members from over 50 jurisdictions to explore research questions related to care ethics. The results show that attentiveness, responsiveness, compassion, and helping represent an underlying construct of care, which is strongly associated with community members’ satisfaction and their broader perceptions of the legitimacy of the police. The results also show that women officers demonstrate more care than men officers and that community members who are People of Color experience less care compared with White residents. Overall, the findings indicate that rethinking police responsibilities from a care perspective is a viable option for improving police–community relations and building legitimacy, particularly in marginalized communities.