Research Proposal Presentation Title

Gender Equality Research Proposal

Student researchers

Boki Zhao
Kacey Du
Yanlin Li
Yihan Wang

What is your research question?

How do female police officers experience gender inequality at police departments in British Columbia in the last five years?

Research proposal keywords or concepts

Gender inequality, Gender gaps in male-dominated workplace, 2. Acknowledge the experiences or obstacles faced by female police-officers in BC.

How would you summarize your proposed research idea?

After choosing this proposition, we collected data and conducted empirical tests at the police station. We made a basic judgment on the data, excluded answers that have little value to our research question, and left meaningful data to support. And we found the most optimal answer together. We also expanded diversity of gender inequality issues. Finally, we used qualitative research methods to analyzed incidents of inequality between men and women.

Where is the literature gap and how does your proposed research attempt to fill that gap?

A large and growing body of literature has investigated that gender inequality in the past five years is still continued as a disadvantage for policewomen.

However, much of the research up to now has not considered the specific and practical solutions to correct this social norm.

To obtain insights into investigations and solutions on gender inequalities in policewomen, an interview-based qualitative approach will be adopted for the present proposed study.

Why is this gap worthy of research?

This project provides an important opportunity to advance the understanding of the consistency of social prejudice on gender inequalities in police departments. It is worthy to look through the gap that indicates the needed further solutions and attention for gender inequalities. At last,it is worthy to advocate more people to think about this social norm for its changes in the future.

What future change could this research possibly contribute to, related to sustainability?

Results of the study can be significant in two major respects. First, it let policewomen express real thoughts. When the upper leadership understand, they can make improvements sustainably. Also, people are still gender biased against special profession such as police. The results can change their ideas to a certain extent.

What made your group interested in and/or what excites you about your proposed topic?

The proposed topic especially discovered the gender inequalities in police department and it catches us interest because it can help to advocate and get more and more people’s attention on this social norm. There are still many people in the society who are biased against the division of labor between men and women in work and the gender distinction of special occupations. We hope that our research results can give policewomen a channel for their superiors to hear their real ideas. Even if it brings a little improvement, it will also have a positive impact.

References

Garcia, V. (2017). “Difference” in the Police Department: Women, Policing, and “Doing Gender.” Handbook of Police Administration, 77–88. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315093222-6

Luo, X. I., Schleifer, C., & Hill, C. M. (2019). Police Income and Occupational Gender Inequality. Police Quarterly, 22(4), 481–510. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098611119862654

Martin, Susan E. 1996. Doing Gender, Doing Police Work: An Examination of the Barriers to the Integration of Women Officers. Paper presented at the Australian Institute of Criminology Conference. Sydney, Aust.:1-18.

Statistics Canada. 2018. Table 35-10-0078-01. Police Officers by Rank and Gender. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3510007801

Reil, L. L. (1970, January 1). Gender issues in policing : women's experiences in Canadian law enforcement. Open Collections. https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0379792.