Sugar and spice … and a badge and a gun revisited

Abstract

Women’s involvement in policing has been an area of study in the United States, but research in other countries has been sporadic. Comparative research, in particular, is scant in the literature on women’s involvement in policing. To address this gap in knowledge, this study examines factors influencing the proportion of police who are women in 36 countries. Earlier work qualitatively comparing the countries with the highest and lowest proportions of women police suggested several common predictors, which were tested quantitatively using Tobit regression. Similar to the United States, where war created opportunities for women, countries involved in war with other countries have a higher proportion of women police. Interestingly, countries involved in civil war had a lower proportion of women police, as did more populous countries. Additionally, presence of the death penalty led to a greater proportion of women police, although this predictor only approached significance (p < .10). Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.