Women in Policing: From Prison Matrons to Police Officers

Introduction: Victorian Gender Ideology and Female Criminality

Estelle B. Freedman's book Their Sisters' Keepers: Women's Prison Reform in America, 1830–1930 focuses not on women emerging as police officers, but rather on women in prisons and on the women employed by prisons to work with female inmates. On page 19, Freedman explains that in the late 19th century, "sexual ideology began to suggest that purity came naturally to women, in contrast to men, who had to struggle to control their innate lust." Influential Victorian authorities argued that women had no appetite for sex, but merely endured it for the purpose of bearing children. This attitude laid the groundwork for society's vicious condemnation of "impure women," who were believed to have the capacity "to unleash not just male sperm, but more importantly, the social disintegration that sexuality symbolized" (p. 20).

So-called "fallen women" received terrible treatment in prisons — particularly in the early 19th century — and were held up as examples to all women to remain within the prescribed boundaries of raising children, cooking meals, and being obedient to men. As Freedman notes, "women had to be pure to enforce male continence" (p. 20). This Victorian ideology of female domesticity and purity directly shaped the institutional environment into which women would eventually be recruited as prison workers and, later, as police.

From Prison Volunteers to Police Matrons

Dorothy Moses Schulz, in From Social Worker to Crimefighter (1995), explains in her introduction that — as Freedman's book documents and sets the stage for — "the roots of the policewomen's movement can be traced to earlier demands for female jail and prison [matrons] and then for female police matrons." Schulz points out that as far back as 1820, Quaker women worked as religious and secular volunteer trainers for female inmates in prisons. She further explains that the only position in corrections open to women from the 1820s through the 1870s was that of prison matron. By the 1880s, women who had been involved in the abolitionist movement "turned their attention to religious, temperance, and benevolent associations" and helped create the "police matron" profession.

Though initially put to work as custodians, women in police work — aided by the powerful advocacy of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) and the General Federation of Women's Clubs — began working as matrons in 36 cities (p. 13). The WCTU was the most influential women's organization of the era, and its role in expanding professional opportunities for women in policing and corrections cannot be overstated.

Legislative Milestones and the Expansion of Matron Roles

The WCTU's influence on political and governmental decision-makers by 1890 was considerable: chapters were active in 46 states, pushing for the appointment of women as matrons in police stations. The first law requiring the appointment of police matrons had been enacted in Massachusetts in 1887. That law applied to cities with 30,000 or more residents, and within three years there were 22 police matrons across the state, including ten in Boston alone (p. 15).

New York lagged behind Massachusetts in this reform movement, not appointing matrons to police departments until 1891 (p. 16). The New York City Police Department changed its policy only after a Harper's Weekly article reported a police officer's attempted rape — and subsequent guilty plea — involving a 15-year-old female inmate. Under Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt (1895–1897), the city moved quickly to appoint matrons to police stations; in 1896 alone, Roosevelt appointed 32 matrons, "the most ever named in one year."

The duties of matrons included searching female suspects, processing them, escorting them to their cells, and supervising them in precinct detention facilities. Matrons also cared for lost children. By 1899, New York City had 59 matrons. Women were still not carrying out full police duties, but they were steadily making inroads.

Conclusion

From the earliest years of women's involvement in prison and police work, up to the present day — when women work side-by-side with male colleagues — females have shown that they are not only competent to serve, but that they can withstand the bias shown against them by some members of their departments. That is a dual role that should not be necessary, but apparently remains so.

References

Freedman, Estelle B. (1981). Their Sisters' Keepers: Women's Prison Reform in America, 1830–1930. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.

Schulz, Dorothy Moses. (1995). From Social Worker to Crimefighter: Women in United States Municipal Policing. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger.

Segrave, Kerry. (1995). Policewomen: A History. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland Company.