The opening chapter presents a brief history of policewomen in America, including a review of the civil rights legislation of the 1970's that enabled greater numbers of women to enter police work. A chapter summarizes and critiques the evaluative research of the 1970's, which focused primarily on whether women are competent to perform general patrol duties. The following chapters each address some aspect of policewomen's characteristics: background, family, lifestyle, personality, values, attitudes, occupational interests, job motivations and satisfactions, job stresses and ways of coping, and policing style. A chapter examines policewomen's perceptions of their performance compared to others' perceptions. Other issues addressed are factors in the retention of policewomen, trends in their supervision and promotion, and the impact they have made on policing. Suggestions for 1990's research on policewomen are offered. 160 references, author and subject indexes.