Police Culture and the Integration of Women Officers in India

Abstract

Broad social changes in developing countries such as India have resulted in the increased representation of women officers. The philosophy governing their integration into the police is that they should be treated equally to men and they should be provided with the same opportunities to undertake the same tasks. The influx of new cohorts of women into the police in recent years in India, resulting from its 1997 labour law legislation which required that 33 per cent of new hires for government organisations be women, provides the opportunity to examine how well women have been integrated into performing police tasks, how contented they are with their roles, how their male counterparts judge their performance and whether they accept women as equal partners. Using a survey questionnaire and an unstructured interview schedule, this study gathered data in 2010 from 222 men and 218 women police constables with 13 years or less service in the Tamil Nadu Police. The main finding of the study is that, in spite of the increased representation of women in the police force and their broad exposure to a wide range of duties, they are still negatively perceived by their male counterparts. This negative perception seems to have been internalised by women, many of whom reported that they prefer a traditional policing role. These findings suggest that the police should re-evaluate their gender integration policies, perhaps to include more gender-sensitive allocation of duties.

Disrupting the “Heroic” Male Within Policing: A Case of Direct Entry

“…In identifying such ideologies, Acker (1992: 255) Police scholarship has done much to document the ways in which gender is routinely constructed, performed and reinforced within policing T a recurring motif within gendered analysis of policing. Without wanting to rehearse well established debates, w has long been used as a rational and legitimate reason for their exclusion (Heidensohn, 1992, Prokos and Padavic, 2002Prenzler and Sinclair, 2013;Natarajan, 2014;Rabe-Hemp, 2008Morash and Haar, 2012). ' As a result, they stunt our understanding of the gendered order within policing and fail to appreciate the complexity and multiplicity of gendered identities within policing.…”

“…The damning impact of the “cult of masculinity” and its attendant association with physicality is a recurring motif within gendered analysis of policing. Without wanting to rehearse well-established debates, women’s perceived lack of physicality and “masculine” capacities for aggression, violence, and danger has long been used as a rational and legitimate reason for their exclusion (Heidensohn, 1992, 1994; Morash & Haarr, 2012; Natarajan, 2014; Prenzler & Sinclair, 2013; Prokos & Padavic, 2002; Rabe-Hemp, 2008, 2009). Responding to what they describe as the “atheoretical” nature of research on women and policing, Shelley, Morabito, and Tobin-Gurley (2011) draw on Acker’s framework to organize the literature regarding women’s experiences of policing.…”

Patriarchal beliefs and perceptions towards women among Indian police officers: A study of Uttar Pradesh, India

“…There is limited information regarding the influencing factors that shape Indian police officers’ patriarchal beliefs and their impact on female complainants and colleagues. Existing studies highlight several challenges, such as the gender inequality within the organization, workload pressure, corruption and occupational challenges (Ma et al, 2019; Natarajan, 2014, 2016; Qureshi et al, 2017). However, the extant research has failed to take into account the patriarchal beliefs of police officers towards female complainants.…”

“…As an institution, the Indian police are reflective of wider societal views regarding gender. Comprised almost entirely of men, the police force has largely been socialized to believe that women are subordinate to men and should uphold traditional values (Kapoor, 2017;Natarajan, 2011Natarajan, , 2014Wilson, 2016). In its wider definition, patriarchy implies the institutionalized system of male dominance (Batton and Wright, 2019;Chesney-Lind, 2006;Ogle and Batton, 2009;Sultana, 2011;Walby 1990).…”

“…In India, 95% of the police organization is comprised of men, and most male officers are insensitive to cases involving women and girls (Kapoor, 2017). Natarajan (2014) found that in spite of efforts towards increased representation of women in the police and their broad exposure to a wider range of duties, they are still negatively perceived by their male counterparts. As a consequence, female police officers often assume a subservient policing role (Natarajan, 2011(Natarajan, , 2014Rabe-Hemp, 2009;Sahgal, 2007;Veldman et al, 2017) by not being responsible for leading interrogations, filing complaints or making decisions, but instead following explicit orders given by a male authority.…”