Why is representation of an identity in an institution important to those who share that identity?

    Asamoah-Gyadu’s “Get on the Internet!" described the increasing use of the internet to increase different religious groups'

outreach. The author mentions the different ways the internet is used to to either be interactive and evangelize visitors to the

website or simply be used as an informative or news related site. Meier and Nicholson-Crotty’s “Gender, Representative

Bureaucracy, and Law Enforcement: The Case of Sexual Assault” studies the impact of increasing number of women police

officers effecting the number of rape and sexual assault cases that are reported. Women will relate and feel more comfortable

with more female representation in a police department by sharing these values and emotions about the seriousness of rape. 

    This question to me can be more easily answered with the sexual assault research article. The collective identity and

commonality in this literature is gender, without it police departments would lack representation for a large portion of our

population. The comfort with women reporting these cases to other women officers stems from the low understanding,

reporting, and prosecution rates for rape and sexual assualt in our history. Without a change of values and attitudes for

this matter within representative bureaucracy this low overall awareness and attention would not have changed. Female

officers not only have the ability to instill trust and comfort to victims but also can change the way entire police departments

and districts view the severity of these cases. The sad truth is gender representation when talking about sexual assault or rape,

has a large impact on the qualitative and quantitative outcomes and reporting of these cases. Police departments nationwide

are still male heavy. This may highlight or make gender a larger part of a women police officer’s personal identity. Being in the

minority, female police officers may try harder to represent and fight for gender equality within their department and give comfort

and courage to females to report these cases. 

    It was also interesting to read the different approaches churches used on the internet based on their culture or historic roots in

“Get on the Internet!”. The author believed that these differences could also come from the “charisma of the founder”, to

represent and drive that church. These African Pentecostal/charismatic churches have founders and leaders with similar qualities

that created a following and website for the church with similar identities. Representation effects if the website will be more

informative or seeking to convert someone to their faith like Asamoah-Gyadu stated. This point also has parallels to Meier and

Nicholson-Crotty’s theory that shares experiences, emotions, or values, “fundamentally affect the decisions made by and the

actions taken”. 

    When we think of representation for an institution we often think of the leader displaying what our collective identity is. Without

properly displaying that identity individuals in the group or institution often feel misrepresented. If Chancellor Martin made a bold

decision or statement that was not in line with Wash U’s values, students and faculty would be upset. I think this highlights the

importance of elected or chosen positions for representation.