Women Working in Male Prisons 305On her first day, she went in with a friendly, open attitude. She smiled and introduced
herself to her new coworkers. She noticed that she was the only female CIO in her unit.
She got a couple of nods and one person even grunted hello. Nobody returned her
friendly attitude, though. She knew the name of the CO who was to train her, but it
took her half an hour to find him because he started his rounds without waiting for her.
Upon finding him, he immediately ordered her to be quiet and watch everything he did.
Several times that day she asked him questions about the job, and he often did not give
her a sufficient answer or ignored her altogether. After one question, he accused her of
being stupid and of not knowing anything about being a correctional officer.
During her lunch break, none ot the male COs would sit with her. She overheard
them talking and laughing about her, and one even cornered her and asked her to go
out for a drink after work. After telling him she was married, he just laughed and said
he was sure her husband expected such things since she worked with "real men." When
jane left work after that first day, she felt very discouraged and was afraid to return.
After thinking it over, she vowed to go back with a different attitude. She began to
act more assertively and to not let her male coworkers demean her. She began to use
more offensive language and joked around with the men so that she would tit in better.
Gradually, the men began to accept her, but only after she showed she could be tough
like them and not act feminine. She had to change her personality to fit their beliefs
about how a CO should act. Her problem then became one of trying to leave her work
personality at work. Her comments were that "it's a macho environment and I have to
act aggressively to succeed. I work here all day, talk loud, act tough. I go home at night
and find myself talking in a deep, loud voice to my kids" (Jurik, as cited in S. E. Martin &
Jurik, 1996, p. 197). So, Jane found that she could fit into the male prison system, but at
the cost of giving up her own identity to conform to her male counterparts.Literature ReviewJane's situation is not an uncommon one among female correctional officers working
in all-male prisons. Although Jane was able to fit in, she had to conform to the
male officers' behaviors. When women do not conform, their experience can be
very stressful because some male COs harass and discriminate against them.
The first signs of discrimination began after Title VII was passed. All-male
prisons tried to prohibit women from even being hired by using the BFOQ clause,
which states that sex discrimination can occur if it is a Bona Fide Occupational
Qualification (Pollock-Byrne, 1990). Dothard v. Rawlinson (1977) is an example
of this. The state of Alabama prohibited a woman from working in an all-male
prison because it claimed the violence of the state prisons would be dangerous for
women. The state used the BFOQ clause as their justification. The U.S. Supreme
Court upheld the state's case, although it did overturn the use of height and weight
restrictions in hiring unless it could be shown how it related to the job. Although this
seems like a negative outcome for women, it was really a narrow ruling applying only
to Alabama, Other states have had a difficult time proving that height, weight, or
gender influence what is necessary to be a corrections officer (Pollock-Byrne, 1990).
Although prisons have not been able to prevent women from being hired, the
male correctional officers have not welcomed them into their subculture. Fry and