Gender Differences in Policing

The purpose of this article was to examine emotional labor skills and the acculturation of extreme masculine values as two pathways by which gender may influence the behavior of officers in the field. The results indicated that female officers were less likely than male officers to assimilate hypermasculine beliefs into their identity. Lower levels of hypermasculinity were related to an officer’s perceptions of less negative behavior by citizens and fewer complaints. In addition, the findings suggest that female officers are more likely to use caring strategies, such as empathy, whereas males are more likely to use cognitive behavioral strategies.