SOC219H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Ambivalent Sexism, Mitigating Factor, Sexual Minority
SOC219 Lecture 6; Gendered Outcomes
Last Class;
● Women in law enforcement
○ Historical roots
○ Gender differences in performance
○ Resistance to women in policing
○ Doing gender
○ Racism in the police force
● Policed lives
○ Policing women
○ Consequences
● Women remain a “token status” in policing. In addition, they remain under-appreciated
and report higher levels of job-related stress albeit being able to do the job with the
same capacity as their male colleges.
● Women in policing → POLICEwomen or policeWOMEN; this reinforces gender
stereotypes but they also reject those standards.
● Black women experience most workplace alienation. Affirmative actions favours black
men and white women more (as the police hire more from those pools) and they are
seen as getting the job based on their skin colour.
● Legal Cynicism and Consequences
○ Legal Cynicism – CJS is unfair or ineffective (belief/perspective). They can arise
from not only direct contact from the police but also vicarious experiences
(knowing the negative views of others about the police causes you to also adopt
those feelings).
○ Non-representative Arrest Rates. If the police are more heavily policing a
particular community → arrest rates higher in that community (but this does not
show whether that area commits more crime, it’s just they are policed more
heavily).
○ Community Distrust. It can also lead to community distrust. A lot of poor relations
with the police leads to not being able to call on the police in times of need. This
is problematic for women as they tend to be most vulnerable in these
communities and in need of police assistance. This can also lead to
counter-cultures and vigilante justice, in which people take justice into their own
hands.
○ “I Don’t do cops”. People are not reliant on the police to help them out. This is an
issue because women tend to be the most vulnerable and experience the most
highest rates of intimate partner violent. So, when they take matters into their
own hands it puts them in harm's way for furthering their criminal record (albeit
they take pride in regaining their respect). BUT! “It makes you feel like you are
less human, like your life is valued less” . These feelings might be passed onto
their children (vicarious experiences).
○ Policemen also within the brotherhood that resist speaking out against their
fellow cops (in fear of breaking the brotherhood) → gender stereotypes
continued.
Key Terms;
● Legal vs. Extra-Legal characteristics
○ Former. Factors that relate to the criminal charge and the criminal background of
an individual (e.g. charge severity; length and severity of an individual’s criminal
record; strength of evidence against a particular person’s case). Latter.
Characteristics that pertain to a person’s identity (e.g. race, gender, class, ability,
sexual orientation). → We have to make sure we are comparing men and women
with these similar characteristics to figure out if there is a disparity in judicial
decision-making.
● Gender specific laws VS gender neutral laws
○ Former. (only infanticide is a gender specific law in Canada relating to women
specifically; before rape, prostitution where only men or women could do it also
existed. But rise in trend in gender neutral). Latter. Definition of law not specific to
men or women. Whilst the written law is gender neutral, their application may still
be gender-specific.
● Benevolent sexism
○ Is this an issue?
○ Former. Protecting girls and women in the CJS that exhibit traditional femininity.
This arises in compliments towards women that are based on genderstereotypes
(e.g. “women are more compassionate than men, they are also more caring”
these women receive more protection within the courtroom). Latter. Refers to the
opposition and punishment of women and girls who take on more masculine
roles, and it also arises in the direct insults and negative judgements towards
women based on assumptions that they are less then men (e.g. “women’s role
belong in the kitchen, cleaning”). → It is fairly apparent the harm that hostile
sexism incurs. In terms of the forms, benevolent comments can portray men as
being less compassionate or caring and those that are extensive in those
characteristics tend to not be seen as proper men. So it has implications for both
men and women. Twitter Post on Slide. Set women up as being fragile and in
need of protection. Continues stereotypes that has consequences.
● Hostile sexism
The Courtroom Workgroup
● Key players
○ Justice of the peace, judge
■ Neutral arbitrator, not inclined to make decisions based on one or the
other side, decisions based on the law
○ Crown attorney
Document Summary
Women remain a token status in policing. In addition, they remain under-appreciated and report higher levels of job-related stress albeit being able to do the job with the same capacity as their male colleges. Women in policing policewomen or policewomen; this reinforces gender stereotypes but they also reject those standards. Affirmative actions favours black men and white women more (as the police hire more from those pools) and they are seen as getting the job based on their skin colour. Legal cynicism cjs is unfair or ineffective (belief/perspective). They can arise from not only direct contact from the police but also vicarious experiences (knowing the negative views of others about the police causes you to also adopt those feelings). If the police are more heavily policing a particular community arrest rates higher in that community (but this does not show whether that area commits more crime, it"s just they are policed more heavily).
