Date of Conferral

2-6-2025

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Criminal Justice

Advisor

Derrick Jones

Abstract

Although African American women have made progress in multiple fields and careers, they remain underrepresented in the field of law enforcement. There has been a lot of research about women in law enforcement, but there has been little research to show the impact of lack of sufficient childcare on the recruitment and retention of African American women in law enforcement. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of African American female police applicants, recruits, and veteran officers and their perception of challenges and barriers in recruitment and retention when it comes to the lack of sufficient childcare. The research methodology for this study was qualitative using a phenomenology design. Data was collected from African American females to understand women’s experiences using in-dept interviews and a qualitative questionnaire. The research question concerned the participants concerns of factors contributing to the lack of sufficient childcare, the barriers they faced during the hiring process, the academy, and a veteran officer. The theoretical framework used to interpret the results was the theory of intersectionality. A purposeful sample of six African American women was collected from applicants, recruits, and veteran officers from multiple agencies in the Eastern region. The data analysis consisted of coding and theming, followed by the results that were described in a narrative form. The results obtained underscored the value of added support of childcare in helping with the recruitment and retention of African American female police officers. The results may contribute to positive social change by raising the awareness and creating policies and procedure that reflect awareness of female officers’ needs.

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