The police, guardian of the (gendered) social order: the case of women protesters in Quebec
Research tends to state that protest policing strategies are partly dependent on specific protester’s characteristics, like race, class and political ideology. Indeed, it seems that police are more prone to use force against subordinate groups who challenge the established social order. This paper looks into women protesters’ perception of the influence of gender on the tactics used by the police when protest arise. Is gender a variable which modulates the policing protest strategies adopted? Are, for example, women protesters treated more harshly by the police? Drawing from semi-directive interviews with women protesters who had numerous conflictual interactions with the police, this study shows that their experiences are characterized by their gender. Two distinct strategies are used by the police whether women were consistent with the gender-related stereotypes. On one side, if they fit within the boundaries of their woman’s roles, they will usually be treated as victims of bad influences. By doing so, the police minimizes the credibility of their cause and weaken their political empowerment. On the other side, women protesters who move away too sharply from the dominant social norms are violently — verbally and physically — treated, with forms of violence that are gender specific. These observations point to the hypothesis that the police, by punishing more harshly those who do not respect these gendered norms, defends a gendered social order.