While 52 percent of all survey respondents reported that their agency had a gender equitable culture, our analyses of survey, focus group, and interview responses by gender and position revealed wide variations in perceptions about equity.
One of our most striking findings is that women in Special Agent and Deputy U.S. Marshal (Criminal Investigator) positions consistently reported distinctly more negative perceptions of equity and experiences with differing treatment and discrimination than other staff in the four law enforcement components. These negative perceptions may be influenced by the low percentage of women in leadership and Criminal Investigator positions, promotion selections that reflect an underrepresentation of women, and the staff view that personnel decisions are based on personal relationships more than merit.
While the components have taken steps to increase diversity, additional work is needed to address the concerns and negative perceptions related to gender equity and to promote an equitable culture within each component. Women Accounted for Only 16 percent of the Criminal Investigators in DOJ’s Law Enforcement Components and Held Few Law Enforcement Executive Leadership Positions, and Components Have Taken Limited Actions to Increase the Number of Women in These Positions Based on interviews and focus group responses, we found that the representation of women forms an important part of staff perceptions about gender equity. In FY 2016, women composed only 16 percent of the Criminal Investigator population in the four law enforcement components. Women in these components were more likely to be Human Resources Specialists, Financial Specialists, or Program Analysts.
Also troubling to us was that all types of staff reported the perception that personnel decisions were driven more by “who you know” than by merit. Our analysis suggests that perceived bias and favoritism in personnel decisions affect staff’s perceptions about gender equity. We believe that this could negatively affect staff’s trust and belief about equity in an agency and possibly discourage qualified employees from applying for promotion.
Additionally, we found that between FY 2011 and FY 2016, women held few headquarters executive leadership positions and those positions were usually leading administrative or support units rather than operational units. Further, we found that women did not hold many of the top leadership positions in field offices, divisions, and districts. Leadership of the law enforcement components told us that they were striving to increase the diversity, including gender, of staff to better represent the population the component serves. We found that the components were taking some steps to increase the diversity of their workforce through recruiting. However, the components have not fully identified all the barriers to recruiting women that may be specific to their respective component.
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