Letter to the Editor of The Age - Women in police force

29/02/2008

This week we saw yet another example where the traditional - and tired - argument was made that too many women hurt the police force (Sunday Age, 24-02-08).

We are told that women do not want to do the shift work, that they are hard to get in some operational areas, that they are hard to retain.

This kind of comment publicly undermines Victoria Police’s significant gains and ongoing commitment to offering equal opportunity to women.

Since the first female police officers were appointed to Victoria Police ninety-one years ago, the force has worked hard to attract more women. Today, the overall number of female police was 22.2% of the total force.

However, this varies depending on rank. Around 42% of recruits are women. Nearly half! Yet by the time you reach sergeant level, only 8% are women.

So what happens to all of those women who join the force? Why do so many police women not make a career out of policing?

Some people might think that this lack of women in senior positions is something to do with their capacity to do the job, that they don’t want to do shift work, or that they don’t want to go into operational front line areas.

This belies the fact that many families rely on shift work plug childcare shortfalls in the absence of affordable childcare.

Instead of blaming women for not fitting in with the system, perhaps its time to examine a system which appears to exclude half the population.

What we know, is that often there are embedded or institutionalised practices which make it very difficult for women to secure senior positions, particularly in organisations like the police force. These are what we would refer to as systemic discrimination, where an organization may not even realise that it is systematically denying equality of opportunity through the way that it operates.

One such barrier might be the culture of an organisation.

I don’t pretend to understand the workings of an organisation like Victoria Police, but I do understand systemic discrimination, and I do see on a daily basis how requirements and the culture of an organisation can systematically work against the interests of some of those people working there - such as women.

The impact on individuals can be varied. Some, if they can, will assume the culture of an organisation in order to succeed. Others will be victims of that culture as they do not conform nor comply nor survive. Both strategies result in loss of talent and diversity.

Police women want to feel safe in their work environment, and often safety can be threatened by bullying tactics which may be physical or by exclusion or by negative comments about female officers in open forums.

Police women want to be respected as being able to do the job just as well as police men, and not to feel as though they have to adopt a male way of doing things to earn that respect.

There are also other barriers, that are about how work is organised and the opportunities afforded to women inn terms of the kinds of work they do.

The system should offer flexibility to allow people to work and have a career but also to maintain a private life with private responsibilities. That more police women – and men - are working part-time shows Victoria Police is moving forward in this respect.

The different physiology of women and men should be respected within Victoria Police. If a police woman returns from pregnancy leave it is just as legitimate for her to be on light duties, as a male police officer returning to work after breaking a leg in a footy match; and lets face it, we can all break a leg but not all of us can deliver a baby into the world!

Victoria is unique in that we have had a woman as the Chief Commissioner of Police since 2001 who has shown enormous leadership in all facets of community life, let alone within Victoria Police.

We are unique in that we have a Charter of Human Rights, and this means that Victoria Police has a positive duty to be compliant with the rights that are contained in that Charter.

We all need to recognise that equality is not about being the same, but is about ensuring that systems, that practices and that cultures do not work against some groups in our community achieving equality.

Cultural change is by definition incremental. It also requires leadership and vigilance. It is not enough that there are strong lone voices - there should be concerted activity to address the systemic problems that make it difficult for women to make a career in policing.