FEMINISM AND STUDY OF LAW IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Feminism and study of Law in the 21st century



Feminism and study of Law in the 21st century

Introduction

The modern history of women special agents in federal law enforcement agencies began in 1971, when President Richard M. Nixon issued Executive Order No. 11478. The order, Equal Employment Opportunity in the Federal Government, prohibited discrimination in employment at the federal level because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, handicap, or age and effectively ended the ban on employing women in the title of special agent. It also opened up to women positions in GS-1811 status, or criminal investigative positions, from which they had previously been barred. Agencies that hired women that same year included the Secret Service and the Postal Inspection Service. Others, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), did not implement this change until 1972.

Although women continue to have a difficult time establishing credibility among their male peers and have filed numerous lawsuits against virtually all the federal law enforcement agencies, it did not take long for them to begin to establish firsts. Within a year of their appointments, five women in the U.S. Secret Service became the first women assigned to guard a presidential candidate when they were assigned to protect Representative Shirley Chisholm (D-NY), the first woman to campaign for a major party presidential designation. By 1993, when fewer than 200 of the Secret Service's 2,000 special agents were women, a small number of women had been assigned to guarding not only presidential relatives, but the president himself.

Discussion

Previously, a few women had risen from special agents to high-level management positions in the FBI, beginning in 1993 when veteran agent Burdena Pasenelli was named the first female assistant director.

A number of other agencies, including U.S. Customs; the Border Patrol; the Secret Service; and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobbaco, Firearms, and Explosives have also promoted women to the assistant director or assistant commissioner levels. In 2002, the Central Intelligence Agency placed a woman in charge of intelligence analysis. Also in 2002, Theresa Chambers was named chief of the U.S. Park Police, but by 2004 she was embroiled in a controversy within the agency that had resulted in her being placed on administrative leave and then fired despite her having filed a number of lawsuits disputing the events leading to her termination.

Women have had greater success in increasing their numbers in many of the Offices of Inspectors General than in the older federal law enforcement agencies. Many of these agencies are more investigatory than arrest-oriented, which may have accounted for women's greater acceptance in the ranks. As of mid-2002, women agents comprised almost 30% of special agent and investigatory staff in more than one office, including Agriculture, Education, Health and Human Services, Interior, Small Business Administration, and Treasury (Tax Administration).

Early Women Law Enforcers

The only federal law enforcement agency to have employed women throughout is history is the U.S. Marshals Service. Deputies were appointed by the ...