An Analysis of the Mandatory Hiring of Females

In this paper we look at the effects of the Fanchon Blake consent decree on the role of women in the Los Angeles Police Department. We begin by showing how the political environment, the attitudes of the Chief, the administrative structure of the department, the budgetary environment, and the culture of the department all worked against the full acceptance of women in the department. We argue that without the decree the role of women would have continued to be minor, and that even with it the environmental variables have led to implementation of the letter rather than the spirit of the decree. We present data to show that this is indeed what happened. Finally we look at how much of the progress made by women can be attributed to the decree, and conclude that the decree was a major force for progress.