Choo, Jihyun. 2019. “Law Enforcement as the Result of Gendered Organization: The Effect of ‘Women as Victims’ and Police Gender Segregation.” Gender and Culture 12(2): 75-110.
The denunciation of the “biased investigation” into illegal filming has led to calls for a greater proportion of women in law enforcement organizations. However, the question must be asked whether recruiting more female police officers would result in gender equality in the law enforcement process as well as in policing organizations. Furthermore, the argument that biological females are the ones who experience forced sexual harm and therefore only they can understand it, must also be examined as to its validity. This study shows that the increase in the number of female police officers recruited over the past 15 years was in fact based on this gender equality policy logic, as a result of which occupational gender segregation continues and has become a factor limiting law practices from a gender perspective. This study suggests that there is a need for a shift away from ‘the female as victim’ identity politics, arguing that police organizational logic should change from the current model in which it is assumed that men should be responsible for arresting offenders.
