The Inspector General’s review of the ATF, DEA, FBI and U.S. Marshals Service showed low percentages of female representation in leadership and promotions, underreporting of discrimination and harassment due to fear of retaliation and men who thought gender equity was “just fine.”
The female criminal investigator population represented only 16 percent of employees, and under 40 percent of the entire workforce is female at the four agencies combined. They also reported 22 percent of all women and 43 percent of female Criminal Investigators had been discriminated against based on their gender. When women were in top positions, they were rarely in charge of large teams and rarely oversaw operational work.
“Also troubling to us was that all types of staff reported the perception that personnel decisions were driven more by ‘who you know’ than by merit,” the report stated.
While the four agencies told the inspector “they were striving to increase the diversity, including gender, of staff to better represent the population their component serves”, the reports showed their efforts were limited and they neglected to identify all the barriers women face in order to address them.
Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III hasn’t had the greatest record of supporting women’s rights either. According to the National Women’s Law Center, Sessions has consistently opposed laws protecting equal pay and opportunity, as well as a bill that would give female-owned businesses more government construction contracts. Sessions didn’t even think grabbing a woman’s genitals, which Trump was outed for, constituted sexual assault.
Earlier this year, an agent at the ATF alleged retaliation for whistleblowing the agency for sexism, and the Justice Department demoted the former head of its death penalty unit, Kevin Carwile, after 12 complaints were filed with the EEOC for favoritism and sexism.
