Cat Fights and Gang Fights: Preference for Work in a Male-Dominated Organization

This article uses Joan Acker's (1990) theory of gendered organizations to frame an analysis of the construction of occupational choice. Utilizing interview data collected from correctional officers (N = 36) working in a men's and a women's state prison, I examine these officers' strong preference for work in the men's prison. Reasons for preferring work with men draw on a comparison of male to female inmates in which the latter are seen as emotional and irrational, an ideal typical construction of the men's prison as a “real penitentiary,” and a feeling among officers that supervisors in women's prisons are less able to enforce institutional rules. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of this case study for a theory of gendered occupational choice and gendered organizations.