The police force in the United States today is facing a problem retaining female police officers. With the passage of The Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 (EEOA) it gave women the opportunity to join the police force (Garland, McCarty, & Zhao, 2007), accepting 4.6% female officers by 1980. In 1999, female officers comprised 14.3% of officers (Archbold, He, & Zhao, 2002) but in 2001, The National Center for Women and Policing reported a drop resulting in only 12.7% female officers (Paynich & Seklecki, 2007). Throughout the years that followed the representation of female officers continued decreasing, bringing it to 11.8% in 2011 (Schuck, 2014). Thus far the reasons for the poor retention have yet to be thoroughly researched.
