What Are You Doing to Recruit More Women to Your Department?
The different outlooks on life – and possible skill sets – that women bring to the table compared to men make them valuable security and law enforcement employees and leaders.
I just came across a blog on CNN by former CIA counterterrorism analyst Susan Hasler on the role she and other women played in the 1990s tracking of al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. She talked about what she believed to be the “special genius” women have for tracking terrorists:
“Suppressing one’s ego is an important part of being a good counterterrorism analyst. First, you have to be willing to admit up front what you don’t know. The amount of data is so large that no one individual can look at all of it. A good analyst acknowledges her blind spots and networks with other analysts to fill them. When it comes to ego suppression, women are just better at it than men. They’ve had more practice.”
Hasler claims that the women who tracked bin Laden were, unlike many of their male co-workers, willing to track al Qaeda at a time when bin Laden and his cohorts were not considered by the CIA to be a “hot account,” or a good way for CIA analysts to get ahead in their careers.
These comments bring to mind a survey Campus Safety conducted several years ago. Despite the fact that women make up more than 51% of the U.S. population, only 12% of our Salary Survey respondents were women. Additionally, 62% of respondents said that 20% or less of the employees in their departments were female.
Considering the different outlooks on life — and possible skill sets — that women bring to the table compared to men, it just makes sense for campuses to recruit more female police and security officers, chiefs and security directors. Not doing so could leave your campus and community unecessarily vulnerable.
So… what is your department doing to attract and keep women on the payroll?
Related Articles:
- 2011 Salary Survey & Industry Census Results: Universities
- 2011 Hospital Salary Survey & Industry Census Results
- 2011 Salary Survey & Industry Census Results: K-12 Schools & School Districts
If you appreciated this article and want to receive more valuable industry content like this, click here to sign up for our FREE digital newsletters!
About the Author
Robin Hattersley, Editor-in-Chief
Robin has been covering the security and campus law enforcement industries since 1998 and is a specialist in school, university and hospital security, public safety and emergency management, as well as emerging technologies and systems integration. She joined CS in 2005 and has authored award-winning editorial on campus law enforcement and security funding, officer recruitment and retention, access control, IP video, network integration, event management, crime trends, the Clery Act, Title IX compliance, sexual assault, dating abuse, emergency communications, incident management software and more. Robin has been featured on national and local media outlets and was formerly associate editor for the trade publication Security Sales & Integration. She obtained her undergraduate degree in history from California State University, Long Beach.
Related Content
Leading in Turbulent Times: Effective Campus Public Safety Leadership for the 21st Century
This new webcast will discuss how campus public safety leaders can effectively incorporate Clery Act, Title IX, customer service, “helicopter” parents, emergency notification, town-gown relationships, brand management, Greek Life, student recruitment, faculty, and more into their roles and develop the necessary skills to successfully lead their departments. Register today to attend this free webcast!
