The normal challenge for female Correctional Officer or Staff member is the gender itself. Often at times the staff in a prison facility are harsher to those that are of the dominate gender in that one facility. Some may believe that females are not capable enough to handle the hardships that come with working with inmates. Statistically, many facilities don’t have female staff members due to aspects of working in a prison facility; especially in a male dominated area. According to Frank DiMarino, as of 2007, the number of female correctional staff was at about 37 % (Women as Corrections Professionals). There are few but hard-hitting effects of female COs that make working at a facility challenging; which include gender bias/victimization, stereotypes against women in the environment of a facility, and attitudes in the facility with gender bias, and aspects of stress with working at a facility that is predominately male. An increasing factor that follows the female population around the work-force is the association with gender bias. Too often do work-forces harshen the work load when the difference of gender comes into play at a place where it is predominately male or female. The underlying factor of gender difference is one of the most reasons why most women do not last in a predominately male facility for correctional officers. Women often feel fearful and/or vulnerable in a male dominated correctional facility.
“A female corrections officer is more likely to respond more aggressively to challenges to her authority which often leave her feeling more vulnerable and fearful (Chapman, 2009; Jenne & Kersting, 1998). These feelings can leave some women officers doubting their abilities to work in a predominantly male profession supervising male offenders (Kissel & Katsampes, 1980)” (Gordon et al. 249).
Many researchers have done studies with gender and