From Social Worker To Crimefighter

In the United States, women in policing evolved from matrons to policewomen to police officers. Today, the position of police chief has been achieved by women. The changing role of women in this traditionally male-dominated field is the subject of this book. It weaves together the history of the police and the history of women and highlights a century of change in law enforcement.

The book also describes how the changing role of women in society affected their role in law enforcement. Review: Dorothy Schulz has produced a work which is not only academically sound, but is also highly readable. She begins with the, surprisingly early, enrollment of police matrons and social workers dealing solely with women and children and concludes with the acceptance of women as crimefighters on the same standing as their male colleagues.

Throughout, the author properly and tellingly interweaves pertinent points from the story of the fluctuating fortunes of feminism. I have no doubt that this much needed and important book will remain the authoritative work on the subject for many years to come. -Joan Lock, police historian author of The British Policewoman: Her Story