GENDER, ACCOUNTS, AND RAPE PROCESSING WORK

Guided by gendered organization theory and organizational frame analys is, this study explores officials' accounts of gender and rape process ing work. The data are from qualitative interviews with 47 Florida off icials who process rape victims in law enforcement, hospital emergency room, prosecution, and rape crisis contexts. Results indicate that ge nder ''at the level of the group'' is a fluid cultural resource that o fficials use in contradictory ways (Thorne 1993). Five Bender frame's account for why women, men or neither are superior in processing work. Overall, results support gendered organization theory, showing that ( a) gender and work an fused in ways that mutually reproduce each other , lb) gender is part of official policy and practice in some organizat ions, (c) most processing work is performed within a gendered division of labor, and (d) processors mobilize gender informally am when polic y or protocol say it is irrelevant. The results challenge cultural bel iefs that women are better than men at work with rape victims. Compara tive research is needed to document the prevalence of gender accounts, arrangements, and policies across organizations, jobs, and genders, a nd to assess them relative to victim and organizational outcomes.