An equity-first policy for women police around the world: strategies for change

ABSTRACT

Feminist scholars have debated the issue of integration and specialising of women in policing. Whether using a ‘Western’ definition of integration, gender-segregated units, or specialised policing for women, research reveals that within all nations, women experience barriers to hiring and promotion and are disadvantaged, discriminated, or marginalised, within the male dominated organisation. In this article, we argue that equity must be achieved before women police are to obtain equality in the workforce. We examine different models of gender in policing around the world including an equality model, an equity model, a hybrid model, and a cultural-specific model. Our findings suggest that no nation has made policing a gender equal institution. We have thus proposed a two-stage gender policy in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals that allows equity to come first to create an equal platform for women in policing, following which gender equality may be achievable.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender equity
• gender equality
• gendered organisation
• women police, policewomen
• UN Sustainable Development Goals

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Notes on contributors

Venessa Garcia

Venessa Garcia is an Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at New Jersey City University.  She conducts research in crime and media, juvenile justice, and women in crime and justice. Her recent books include Women in Policing around the World: Doing Gender and Policing in a Gendered Organization (Routledge, 2021), Women Policing Across the Globe: Shared Challenges and Successes in the Integration of Women Police Worldwide (Rowman & Littlefield, 2020), and Crime, Media, and Reality: Examining Mixed Messages about Crime and Justice in Popular Media. (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018). Dr. Garcia has also published research in Deviant Behavior, Children and Youth Services Review, Journal of Criminal Justice, Police Practice and Research: An International Journal, and the Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice.

Anqi Shen

Anqi Shen is a Professor of Law at Northumbria University in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. She is the author of Offending Women in Contemporary China: Gender and Pathways into Crime (Palgrave, 2015), Women Judges in Contemporary China: Gender, Judging and Living (Palgrave, 2017), Internal Migration, Crime and Punishment in Contemporary China: An Inquiry into Rural Migrant Offenders (Springer, 2018), Women Police in Contemporary China: Gender and Policing (Routledge, 2022), and co-author of Fake Goods, Real Money: The Counterfeiting Business and its Financial Management (Policy Press, 2018). Dr. Shen previously worked in China as a police officer and then a practising lawyer before coming to embark on a doctoral study in London.