Women in Control?

How far have women progressed in the `unfeminine' career of policing? How far do they want to go and how far will their male colleagues, and the public, let them? Women in Control? breaks new ground by discussing the role of women in relation to controlling crime and disorder. Since the early twentieth century, women have struggled to gain influence in policing, but progressed only slowly until the 1970s, when equal opportunities legislation brought integration and some measure of success. Based on a series of interviews with British and US officers, Women in Control? examines their experiences in dealing with crime, vice, and everyday incidents, and with the hostility and harassment of their male colleagues, and highlights both the role of women in law enforcement in two societies and the importance of gender in social control.