Women Police in a Changing Society

Back Door to Equality

Mangai Natarajan

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9780754649328
• eBook ISBN:
  9781134776818
• Topic: Scienze sociali
• Subtopic: Studi di genere

Offering a fascinating account of the development of women police over the past twenty years, this book refers to the author's extended research in India to examine how the Indian experience demonstrates a valuable alternative to the Anglo-American model; not only for traditional societies but for women police in the West as well. With reference to the establishment in 1992 of all-women units in Tamil Nadu, this unique experiment proved highly successful in enhancing the confidence and professionalism of women officers and ensuring the effectiveness and efficiency of the police. At a time when policing is being rethought all over the world, not only in traditional societies, the Tamil Nadu practice illustrates important lessons for western countries that are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit and retain women officers. Natarajan's remarkable book is an important and original contribution to the literature on gendered policing, which to date has concentrated almost exclusively on the US and British experience.

PART 1
WOMEN POLICE WORLDWIDE

Chapter 1

Women Police and Societal Change

Introduction

This book presents the results of a series of studies of women police in Tamil Nadu, a Southern Indian state. The studies extend over a period of twenty years, and they chart the changes that have occurred in the utilization of women officers. On the basis of this research, the book seeks to draw some broad conclusions about the most appropriate roles for women police in traditional societies, roles that satisfy the needs of the organization as well as those of the women themselves.

Developing countries sometimes try to adapt or imitate western models in economic and social matters, hoping in this way to improve the lives of their citizens. Developments in technology and globalization have reinforced this trend because they have provided tangible and ever-present reminders of the success of western societies. However, learning from the West is not always easy because there is a basic conflict between the ideals of western industrialized nations (characterized by sociologists as “open” societies) and those of more traditional or “closed” societies. In “open” societies, or meritocracies, social mobility is made possible, based on personal achievement. These societies must reward socially useful talents and skills, rather than maintain privileges, if they are to survive. Social position in these societies is achieved rather than ascribed; each person is given an opportunity to climb the social ladder. This means that people in an open society will be more individualistic because, in theory, their position in society is determined by their achievements regardless of gender. Women in open societies compete with men, not because they are women, but because they see themselves as independent and autonomous individuals. These expectations help them to survive in society and also help them achieve success in male-dominated jobs such as policing.

The ambitions of developing countries for economic and social improvement are therefore tempered by concerns that adapting western models could jeopardize cultural values and traditions that have served these societies well for hundreds of years. It is especially difficult to change traditional values and norms relating to gender roles, and the place of family and religion in everyday life, because these are so deep rooted within the culture. Such changes threaten the very basis of society and undermine individuals’ feelings of self-worth and well-being. What people believe, what they value, what rules of conduct they follow or break are learned through membership in social groups embedded in the broader culture. Attempting to change the broader culture carries the threat of societal breakdown. This means that traditional “closed” societies cannot adopt western models outright. Instead, they must first find ways to improve their economies and open up their societies without undermining their traditional values.

This larger problem is mirrored in the more specific context of women policing. How can women who have been brought up to be dependent change so that they can function effectively in an aggressive, male-dominated occupation with energy, self-reliance and motivation? In order to avoid some of the problems of adopting a western model for traditional societies, it is necessary to find an alternative route to bring women to equal status in the police force.

This book will argue that the Tamil Nadu experience of utilizing women officers might provide a model for other traditional societies.1 The police force in Tamil Nadu is organized on a paramilitary model, with recruits being placed for an extended period of training in police battalions run on military lines. The first women officers who were employed were not exposed to these harsh conditions, but were placed directly into police stations where they worked in a support role for men, mainly on cases with female offenders or victims. This did little to reduce the suspicion with which most women in Tamil Nadu viewed the police and they remained reluctant to come to the stations, which meant that victims in need of help and support from the police were simply not being served. To remedy this situation, the government decided to establish AWPUs to cater for the needs of women victims. The first one was opened in 1992 and quickly judged a success. Within a short period of time, 148 of these units were opened. The women officers working in them have gained experience of a much wider range of police work than when they were performing a support role in the police stations. They experienced much less harassment and intimidation than those working in a support role to men (such ill treatment is common all over the world; Brown and Heidensohn 2000). Their confidence has increased and, despite some problems, their status among the public and within the force has greatly improved. Because these officers serve a wide variety of functions, the police force is making better use of its resources and has enhanced its image among the public at large. In Martin’s (1980) terms used to describe differences in women’s adaptation to the police profession, these officers are now functioning as policewomen: they show high commitment to their jobs and wish to work on patrol assignments. By contrast, the women deployed to the general police stations would be termed policewomen by Martin: they conform to sex role expectations, have a lack of occupational commitment, and are employed and assigned to an array of support functions, not patrol duties. It is therefore clear that segregating the women officers in their own units has brought many benefits for the officers, for the police force, and for the public in Tamil Nadu.

Accordingly, it will be argued in this book that, contrary to the prevailing wisdom, segregation of women officers can provide a “back door” to achieving equal status with men. This may be an interim stage to full integration, but it is still needed. The key to this door is the doctrine of “separate but equal.” This recognizes that men and women can both make an equal contribution to policing, even if these contributions are different. Men and women have different skills and capacities, which it is important to recognize in work assignments. In a traditional society, especially, it must be recognized that women officers also have different societal roles that must be accommodated in the work environment. Nowhere has this been expressed better than in UNESCO’s (2000) definition of gender equality:

Equality between men and women entails the concept that all human beings, both men and women, are free to develop their personal abilities and make choices without the limitations set by stereotypes, rigid gender roles and prejudices. Gender equality means that the different behavior, aspirations and needs of women and men are considered, valued and favored equally. It does not mean that women and men have to become the same, but that their rights, responsibilities and opportunities will not depend on whether they are born male or female. Gender equity means fairness of treatment for women and men, according to their respective needs. This may include equal treatment or treatment that is different but which is considered equivalent in terms of rights, benefits, obligations and opportunities.

In conclusion, this book serves two broad objectives: (1) to explore the ways in which women can best be utilized in the police forces of traditional societies, and (2) to examine the ways in which women can obtain equal status to men in the police. More specifically, it seeks to:

1. Provide a detailed case study of women policing in a traditional society to show changes in the process of deployment over a period of time;

2. Show that women can be different but equal in policing and how this is achievable in traditional cultures;

3. Examine how “gendered policing” can pave the way for equality in the police;

4. Demonstrate the difficulties in adapting western models of integration in traditional societies and discuss alternative models of integration;

5. Describe ways in which women can be helped to play their unique and valuable role in policing.

Gender Roles and Policing

Gender roles are changing rapidly in the modern world. Industrialization and urbanization have impacted family size and structure and have also fundamentally changed values and norms. In many parts of the world, increasing numbers of women have started to work outside the home to meet the material needs of their families, but also to enjoy satisfying careers. With higher living standards and more family income, college education has become possible not only for men, but also for increasing numbers of lower and middle-class women. As young women have learned marketable skills for use in the world of work, paid employment has developed a new importance in their lives. Increasingly, women all over the world see careers as desirable and permanent parts of their futures and many have tapped into jobs that were once male preserves.

Law enforcement is one such job where, until quite recently, careers were not open to women, but where now a new world of employment opportunities has opened up for them. However, policing is still portrayed in the media and elsewhere as a masculine job. Physical strength, fearlessness and aggressiveness are portrayed as the qualities displayed by the ideal officer. Overlooked are the many other qualities needed to carry out police work successfully. These include patience, compromise, empathy and diplomacy—all qualities that women possess to a considerable degree. Equally overlooked is that policing serves not just law enforcement, but also two other important functions—the maintenance of order and service to the public—which women can perform equally well if not better than men.2 The eight duties of police that have been identified by the American Bar Association help to make the point. These duties are as follows:

1. To prevent and control conduct widely recognized as threatening to life and property (serious crimes);

2. To aid individuals who are in danger of physical harm, such as the victim of a criminal attack;

3. To protect constitutional guarantees, such as the right of free speech and assembly (parade, demonstration work);

4. To facilitate the movement of people and vehicles (traffic);

5. To assist those who cannot care for themselves: the intoxicated, the addicted, the mentally ill, the physically disabled, the old, and the young;

6. To resolve conflict, whether it be between individuals, groups of individuals, or individuals and their government;

7. To identify problems that have the potential for becoming more serious problems for the individual citizen, for the police, or for government;

8. To create and maintain a feeling of security in the community.

These descriptions show that a great deal of police work is not dependent on physical strength or dominance, but relies on human sensitivity and the exercise of interpersonal skills. The central point is that policing encompasses a vast range of work, requiring the police to exercise many different skills and abilities and to work in a variety of ways. Within this range of duties, there is ample scope for women to work productively and to undertake essential duties. Nor should it be assumed that men are always better able to deal with violent situations because they are stronger. In fact, many studies show that women often respond to violent situations better than male officers (Price, 1996) and they may have a special role in dealing with domestic violence, which is absorbing an increasing proportion of police time. Women often understand the emotions underlying the violence and respond to the case accordingly. Greater use of women in responding to these incidents could enhance the services provided to women victims of domestic violence. As the National Center for Women and Policing (1999) has stated, “The under-representation of women in law enforcement also has significant implications for women in the community who are victims of domestic violence.”3

Despite this under-representation, women officers are being increasingly recruited and they are also gradually becoming more integrated into law enforcement agencies. In almost all countries, women first entered the police force as matrons who were hired to deal with women and children. Later, they were assigned to “women’s work”—non-dangerous assignments such as shoplifting squads and juvenile bureaus, but still not to patrol or detective duties. Fuller utilization of women in the police is a phenomenon dating only from World War II (Shane, 1980), but it has accelerated in the past 30 years. It also varies with the openness of societies and their criminal justice systems, with social and economic development, and with the degree of resistance or support among the population at large.4 There are many countries today, however, where women police participate in a wide array of duties, including street patrol, dispatch, supervision, and administration. Even so, they still comprise only a small minority of serving officers (Heidensohn, 1998; National Center for Women and Policing, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001; Prenzler, 1998; Harris, 1999; Horne, 1999). The most complete data relate to the United States. Figure 1.1 shows that in the United States in 1971, women constituted only 1.4 percent of the total number of police officers. From 1971 to 2005, there was a constant overall increase in the number of women officers in line positions.

Figure 1.1 Representation of sworn women police officers in the United States (1971–2005)

This trend mirrors the data provided by the National Center for Women and Policing survey report titled Equality Denied (2002), which shows that, between 1972 and 2001, the proportion of women officers grew annually at less than one-half of 1 percent per year. It was not until 1993 that large police agencies reached a major benchmark by crossing into double digits. The survey also reports that in 2000 and 2001 this trend of slow increase has stalled and possibly even reversed. In 2001, women accounted for only 12.7 percent of all sworn law enforcement positions in large agencies (with 100 or more sworn personnel)—a figure that is barely four percentage points higher than in 1990, when women comprised 9 percent of sworn officers.

In small and rural agencies (with fewer than 100 sworn personnel), women comprised an even smaller 8.1 percent of all sworn personnel. When these figures are combined in a weighted estimate, they indicate that women represented only 11.2 percent of all sworn law enforcement personnel in the US—dramatically less than the participation of women in the whole of the labor force at 46.5 percent. Further, according to the report, women are concentrated in the lowest tier of sworn law enforcement positions. Women held 13.5 percent of line positions, but their numbers rapidly decrease in the higher ranks to 9.6 percent of supervisory posts and 7.3 percent of top command positions.

More than half (55.9 percent) of the large police agencies surveyed reported no women in top command positions, and the vast majority (87.9 percent) reported no women of color in their highest ranks. For small and rural agencies, 97.4 percent had no women in top command positions, and only one of the 235 agencies had a woman of color as their chief.

The report comments as follows:

Overall, the number of women in law enforcement has increased at an alarmingly slowrate over the past 30 years and women remain severely under-represented in large, small and rural law enforcement agencies in the United States. Worse, this glacial pace of progress has either stalled or reversed in the past few years. Until law enforcement agencies enact policies and practices designed to recruit, retain, and promote women, gender balance in policing will remain a distant reality. Until then, law enforcement personnel will not fairly represent the characteristics of the communities they serve (National Center for Women and Policing Report, 2002).

As might be expected, the picture in most other countries is worse. Nowhere have women been fully integrated into policing, as judged by the roles they perform and their career expectations and opportunities. These are all considerably more limited than for men (Martin, 1990 and 1991; Schulz, 1995b, 1998; Coffey, Brown and Savage, 1992). This is particularly the case in developing countries where the women’s movement lacks credibility, where there is widespread resistance to women joining the labor force, and where equal opportunity laws have been weak or non-existent.

This somewhat discouraging picture raises the question of whether women will ever reach equal representation or gender balance within the police, particularly given the job climate that results in many women becoming dissatisfied and inclined to leave. It could be that under-representation of women in policing might be a temporary state of affairs, due simply to the fact that women are relatively recent arrivals in a male-dominated profession. If so, full integration can be expected to occur in time. On the other hand, there might be permanent barriers to full integration, which women might already be encountering (Heidensohn, 1992). These barriers derive from several sources. They might be due to the prejudice of male officers who refuse to believe that women can undertake the full complement of duties. They might be due to wider societal attitudes and beliefs about appropriate roles for women. They might result from inherent differences between men and women in physical capabilities. Finally, they might be due to the preferences of the women officers themselves and the difficulty of finding a satisfying police role compatible with personal goals and family responsibilities.

It might also be the case that the representation of women has not yet reached what Kanter (1977), in her famous book Men and Women of the Corporation, calls a “critical mass” for change. According to Kanter, when women are present in sufficient numbers in an organization, they can exercise the power of numbers and provide...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Figures, Map and Diagram
• List of Tables
• Preface
• Part 1 Women Police Worldwide
• Part II Women Police in a Traditional Society
• Part III Studies of Women Police in Tamil Nadu
• Part IV Women Policing in a Changing Society
• Bibliography
• Index