Overall, exhaustion with client work correlated significantly with incidents of sexual harassment and violence at work. Tasks of Women and Men. Nearly all policewomen and about percent
of policemen thought that women and men are equally suitable to work as a police officer. There were many tasks that both women and men believed to be more suitable for women, such as investigation of crimes committed by women, and crimes and violence against women and children, particularly sexual assault and rape. Men, on the other hand, were seen as more suitable for handling tasks involving physical strength, such as in special emergency and dog-handling units. The responses reflect traditional attitudes toward gender roles: men are seen to handle better tasks involving physical power, whereas women are seen as more competent in tasks requiring verbal and emotional skills. Similar attitudes were found when the respondents were asked whether they would prefer to work with a female or male police officer: percent of female and percent of male police officers preferred to face a dangerous situation with a male police officer. Only percent of female and percent of male police officers preferred to go to a house call with a woman officer. This reflects the dangerous nature of police work. Attitudes Toward Policewomen. We examined whether the respondents believed that attitudes among officers in the low and middle ranks differed significantly from those with high ranks. Specifically, they were asked if they thought that attitudes toward policewomen were protective, flirtatious, or demeaning, that women’s opinions were neglected, or that women officers received special privileges because of their minority status. Table . shows that both female and male police officers think that attitudes toward women differ considerably between officers in lowest and middle ranks versus those in the highest rank. Generally, they believed that officers in the lowest and middle ranks had more negative attitudes than their superiors did. 202
DOMINANCE, HARASSMENT, AND WOMEN