Policewomen and stress

Abstract

In this study, the author tries to discover whether policewomen in Malta suffer from job-related stress. With the aid of questionnaires which where distributed to policewomen in the General Head Quarters and in districts, it was revealed that various stressors contributed to the build up of their stress. In fact, this study indicates that the sources of policewomen stress are external, organisational, task-oriented, and personal. Policewomen stress starts from the very beginning (recruitment) and persists throughout their whole career. Policewomen are continuously given the message that they are inferior to their male colleagues and are not able to perform same tasks. Gender discrimination may result in low credibility in one-self, as well as lack of mobility and promotion for policewomen. Moreover, this study indicates that other major stressors for policewomen are the lack of personal time for policewomen; irregular/long/unpredictable shift hours; having other responsibilities apart from police work itself like children and domestic chores; and women-unfriendly police culture. In spite of these, most of the respondents are not sorry for having joined the police force. The author concludes with some recommendations of how one may prevent or reduce stress in order to cope with one's own lifestyle.