While many public organizations have made notable strides to improve the representation of women at all ranks, women remain severely underrepresented in law enforcement organizations. Research shows that a critical barrier to women’s integration into law enforcement is the common perception among policemen that women are unsuited for police work. This study draws on Social Dominance Theory to provide a better understanding of the values and beliefs underlying policemen’s negative perceptions. Using survey data and Ordinary Least Squares Regression analyses, we examine the association between Social Dominance Orientation (SDO), an individual difference variable that captures preference for group-based social hierarchy, and officers’ assessment of women’s suitability for law enforcement. In line with existing evidence, our analyses show that compared to policewomen, policemen provide a significantly more negative assessment of women’s suitability for law enforcement. We also find that higher SDO officers report more negative assessments of women in law enforcement, and officers’ diversity value partially mediates this relationship. These novel findings suggest that officers who desire to protect existing power dynamics are more likely to resist organizational diversity efforts and have more negative views about women’s suitability for law enforcement.

中文翻译：

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偏爱基于群体的社会等级制度，不愿接受妇女在执法中享有平等地位

尽管许多公共组织在提高各级妇女的代表性方面取得了显着进展，但妇女在执法组织中的代表性仍然严重不足。研究表明，妇女融入执法的一个关键障碍是警察普遍认为妇女不适合警察工作。这项研究利用社会支配理论来更好地理解警察负面看法背后的价值观和信仰。使用调查数据和普通最小二乘回归分析，我们研究了社会支配取向（SDO）（一种反映对基于群体的社会等级制度的偏好的个体差异变量）与官员对女性是否适合执法的评估之间的关联。根据现有证据，我们的分析表明，与女警察相比，男警察对女性是否适合执法的评价明显更为负面。我们还发现，高级 SDO 官员对执法中的女性给予更多负面评价，而官员的多元化价值观在一定程度上调节了这种关系。这些新颖的发现表明，希望保护现有权力动态的官员更有可能抵制组织多元化的努力，并对女性是否适合执法持更负面的看法。