Juantisa Hughes, a 2024 graduate of the PhD in Leadership & Change program, has written and published her dissertation titled, The Lived Experience of African American Women Leaders in Georgia Law Enforcement: Advances, Barriers, and Impact on Performance.
Law enforcement is a male-dominated field that has been slow to accept and promote African American women to positions of authority. The purpose of Hughes’ qualitative study was to explore the lived experiences of African American women law enforcement supervisors related to the barriers encountered during their careers and vital skills necessary for job performance.
Hughes’ dissertation assessed advances, impacts on performance, peer intimidation, sexual harassment, discrimination, and other barriers that African American women face while pursuing top-level positions in law enforcement. The study included interviewing eight African American women law enforcement officers in Georgia, active duty and retired, who have held the positions of Commissioner, Chief, Captain, Lieutenant, Detective, Sergeant, and or Corporal. Hughes’s research included five themes: (a) “Obstacles”: Operation Stumbling Blocks, (b) “Sabotage”: Monkey Wrench in the Works, (c) “Jealousy”: The Green-Eyed Monster, (d) “Overlooked”: Privy Passover, and (e) “Combative/ Overly Aggressive”: Angry Black Woman Syndrome. This research has implications for lawmakers, departmental leads, and all level agencies of law enforcement to eliminate barriers, increase diversity, and practice equality for the advancement of African American women.
Hughes is the Founder of Hughes Alliance, a conglomerate corporation that houses her Certified Life Coaching Services. She spent more than 15 years as a Criminal Investigator and has been recognized for her work in serving the indigent. She also holds a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from Albany State University and a Master of Business Administration from Saint Leo University. Her education and experience in the criminal justice field, along with her entrepreneurial achievements, prompted her research interests in the underrepresentation, stigmatization, disparity of treatment, and discrimination of African American women in leadership.
Read and download Hughes’ dissertation, The Lived Experience of African American Women Leaders in Georgia Law Enforcement: Advances, Barriers, and Impact on Performance here.
