Striking A Balance: Female Correctional Officers, Gender Role Stereotypes, and Male Prisons.

This paper examines the strategies developed by female correctional officers to circumvent interactional and organizational barriers to advancement in the traditionally-male work organization of the men's prison. Data for the analysis are drawn from interviews with female officers and other staff in a state department of corrections located in the western United States. In a dramaturgical-like fashion, female officers seeking to advance must moderate—strike a balance—between a series of countervailing negative sex role stereotypes. However, regardless of their success in presenting a ‘balanced’ image at work, female officers experienced stress from their responsibility of accommodating to this predominantly male work environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]