Motherhood of women police officers
an analysis from the perspective of semiotic cultural psychology
Keywords:
Motherhood. Women Police Officers. Police Work. Cultural Psychology.Abstract
This article presents a theoretical-interpretative analysis of the literature on motherhood and police work, based on 18 empirical studies published between 2010 and 2025. Grounded in Semiotic Cultural Psychology, it examines how motherhood is constructed in policing contexts marked by risk and strong institutional normativity. The findings indicate that motherhood constitutes a developmental transition mediated by gendered signs and by an institutional model of the ideal worker associated with masculinity and unrestricted availability. These symbolic systems generate professional tensions, health impacts, and reorganizations of parenting practices, while also revealing the scarcity of Brazilian research on the topic.
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