A qualitative analysis of gender inequality in Southeast Missouri law enforcement agencies

Authors

Madeline Marie Whistler, Southeast Missouri State University
Christopher Bradley, Southeast Missouri State University
H. Hamner Hill, Southeast Missouri State University

Abstract

"Does gender inequality impact the careers of female law enforcement officers in the Southeast Missouri region? Using a qualitative single instrumental case study, seven cis-gendered female law enforcement officers who were employed at local law enforcement agencies within the Southeast Missouri region were interviewed to investigate the central research question. Four themes emerged from the data that illustrated their experiences: sexual exploitation and harassment, a lack of work-life balance, the presence of gender stereotypes, and patriarchal hierarchy and male dominance in the workplace. The findings suggest that the experiences of female law enforcement officers are heavily impacted by the behavior and attitudes of their coworkers and command staff, most of whom are male. Keywords: Southeast Missouri, law enforcement, gender inequality, qualitative case study."

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Whistler, Madeline Marie; Bradley, Christopher; and Hill, H. Hamner (2026) "A qualitative analysis of gender inequality in Southeast Missouri law enforcement agencies," Qualitative Criminology (QC): Vol. 15: No. 2, Article 5.
Available at: https://dc.swosu.edu/qc/vol15/iss2/5