Representative bureaucracy: does female police leadership affect gender-based violence arrests?

Abstract

Representative bureaucracy theory postulates that passive representation leads to active representation of minority groups. This article investigates the passive representation of female police officers at leadership levels and the active representation of women vis-a-vis gender-based violence arrest rates in the UK. Much of the extant research on representative bureaucracy is located at street level, with evidence showing that discretionary power of minority bureaucrats can lead to active representation. This article is focused on leadership levels of a public bureaucracy. The empirical research is based upon a panel dataset of female police officers as an independent variable and gender-based violence arrest rates as a dependent variable. The analysis reveals that there is little evidence of active representation of women by female police leadership. Points for practitionersThe research offers policy and public service practitioners with empirical evidence to suggest that representation of minorities is mediated by organizational effects in public bureaucracies.

Women in public policy and public administration?

“…Few studies have attempted to disaggregate outcomes of representative bureaucracy at various levels of the organizational hierarchy. For example, while Andrews and Johnston Miller (2013) found active representation of women by female police officers at lower levels of the police hierarchy, Johnston and Houston (2018) found that active representation of women at leadership levels of the police did not hold true.…”

“…As mentioned above socialization and group identification is important in translating passive to active representation. However, identification and socialization can be mediated by organizational socialization (Johnston and Houston, 2018). Organizational context, structure, hierarchy, rules and regulations and norms may depersonalize relationships making bureaucrats less likely to identify with groups outside the bureaucracy (Ferguson, 1985;Keiser et al, 2002).…”

Police Use of Force Interactions: Is Race Relevant or Gender Germane?

“…Nicholson-Crotty et al, 2011; Selden, 1997). Current literature has found positive outcomes for civilians, based on gender representation, across a variety of contexts including education, policing, child support enforcement, and job counseling (Andrews & Miller, 2013; Bearfield, 2009; Guul, 2018; Johnston & Houston, 2018; Keiser et al, 2002; Meier & Nicholson-Crotty, 2006; Schuck, 2018; Song, 2018; Wilkins, 2006; Wilkins & Keiser, 2006; Zhang, 2018).…”

Feminism, Masculinity, and Active Representation: A Gender Analysis of Representative Bureaucracy

“…Therefore, it excluded literature that explores representative bureaucracy in other fields such as political science, psychology, or sociology such as Selden et al (1998). In addition, other formats such as books (see Peters et al, 2015) and dissertations and any literature that was published after the original submission of the article (see Johnston & Houston, 2018) were not included in our review.…”