Police: Male police officers\u27 attitudes toward their female counterparts in the Windsor Police Services (Ontario).

The attitude of male police officers toward their female counterparts within the Windsor Police Services was the focus of the research. It was proposed that male police officers would hold traditional and negative views toward female police officers. Secondly, the research also proposed that male officers attitudes towards female police officers would be similar to their attitudes toward women in general. Third, the study also proposed that male police officers\u27 attitudes toward female officers and women in general would be related to the male officers\u27 age, rank, educational level, number of years on the police service and the amount of training and patrolling experienced with a female police officer. In order to collect the data, a twenty-six item structured questionnaire was employed. The respondents were guaranteed complete confidentiality and anonymity. In order to determine the degree of negativity among male police officers toward female police officers and toward women in general descriptive analysis was used. To determine the relationship between the various demographic variables and the attitudes of male officers, one-way ANOVAS were used. The study found that in general police officers\u27 attitudes toward female police officers were negative. However, these same male police officers held more positive attitudes toward women in general. The study also found that the older, higher ranking male police officers, with a greater number of years in the police force held significantly more positive attitudes toward female officers. The results of the research imply that male officers still hold traditional views toward female officers, and have a difficult time accepting them as equals in the Windsor Police force. Moreover, these attitudes seem to be more a function of the occupation itself. Thus, the study suggests counselling or educational programs within the police department, in order to try and liberalize these attitudes.Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1995 .D44. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 34-02, page: 0603. Thesis (M.A.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1995