Women police face problem

Research question:

Understanding in present society how women police are affected by gender related problem in their respected job and how they deal with this problem. Objective:
The primary research would be studying which kind of gender related problem and harassment (physically or mentally) a women police face and are they get same respect as a male counterparts get in their job. Finally the finding will be after research analysis the data and try to understand the present problem and also try to solve them for future generation.

Reason behind choosing the research topic:

When a male police officer was asked in 1916 whether women would ever be police constables, he burst out laughing, replying: "No, not even if the war lasts 50 years. However, the Women’s Police Service, made up of volunteers, had been founded in 1914. Female police officers first joined the Metropolitan Police in 1919, although the then Commissioner, Sir Nevil Macready, insisted he did not want any “vinegary spinsters” or “blighted middle-aged fanatics” in its ranks.

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The female police officers were distinguished from their male counterparts, who had wider authority, by the prefix ’woman’ before their rank, such as “Women police constable” and “Woman Police Sergeant”. From this information we can easily recognise that in past how POLICE MEN’s mentality was for their female counterpart. But surprisingly now a days, after so many years of revolution till now women police, especially in India facing the same ancient moral abusive problem. In the United States of America, it is common to see female police officers on a daily basis, but it is not the case in India.

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In the country where the women are seen as the second-class citizens Kiran Bedi has become the first female police officer in July 1972. After 41 years of joining the first women police still we don’t have the satisfactory number of women police in Indian police force. According to home ministry statistics, out of 15,85,117 personnel working in state police forces, only 84,479 or just 5.33% are women. Besides, there are just 499 all-women police stations in the country out of a total 15,000 stations.

Women in police are expected to play an entirely different role as compared to their counterparts in other professions. Police culture is characterised by authoritarian attitude; tough and complex nature of job; fear; and anger-provoking duty situations. Women police, while discharging this unique job-role in contrast to their inherent nature (softness, gentleness, submissiveness, and so on) are more prone to conflicts and tensions as compared to women working in other areas.

Further, in an attempt to be punctual and duty bound towards police job (which involves long/irregular hours of work, call on duty, and so on) as well as justify the roles towards family (which is primary), women police find themselves torn between the two (work and home) and face endless conflicting situations. The present study is focussed to have an insight into the problems of women police in criminal justice administration with special emphasis on role conflicts and tensions experienced by women in performing the non-traditional police role, in addition to fulfilling the traditional family obligations.

This blind believe is present in our society till date. But we have so many examples which can falsify the thought. From 1972 to 2007 Kiran Bedi successfully served for Indian police force with maintaining her family and job. In 1994, Kiran was promoted to the Inspector General of Prisons and was responsible for managing the largest prison in the Asia Pacific area. Kiran personally visited the prisons.

Under her management, living conditions of prisoners improved significantly and the prison corruption started to decline. Recently at Latehar in Ranchi on 27th August, 2013 a police woman was brutally raped by some people when she was travelling with her family for a cremation of her relative.

From this recent news we can say those women have some administrative power they are also not safe from male. This incident can strong some people’s believing those who think women are not suitable for police force. Now I try to understand through my research what a women police think about those matters. These are the main reasons why I am being interested in this topic.

Research Questions Suitable For Qualitative Methods:
A qualitative method is that which you are likely to use the unstructured interview or observation as your method of data collection. So here I am giving some questions related in this matter which can help to study my research paper in qualitative method.

1. Understanding what is the mental and social status of a woman police officer in a male dominated job and are they psychologically satisfied in their occupation.

2. Before going to the police force are they facing any kind of family-support problem and how they tackle it?

3. Being a woman do they get any respect from their fellow worker?

4. Do they face any kind of sexual harassment from their fellow worker at any stage of their duty? If this happened then what kind of harassment it is- verbal or physical?

5. Did they get the same respect from people as a man police officer get?

6. Being a girl is it easy or hard to get a fair promotion?

7. With a same administrative power as a male possess are women police feel safe and secure from male regarding sexual harassment?

Literary Review: Gender related problem face by women police in India has not yet received a large amount of focused research attention. One significant reason behind this is in late 20th century Indian society think, if women sexually harassed it was that’s women fault. So when sexual harassment case was happened it didn’t come to news. Kiran Bedi was the first women police in India in 1972, now it is 2013 but after 41years the number of women police in police force is still 5.33%.

From this ration we can easily assume that gender discrimination level is so high. We can also analysis many factor like social ethnicity, environment, and background hold out women from joining the police force, an example- Patrolman Hallie Miller used to tell her mom I would be a police officer in New York City," since she thought that’s where the bad guys were. But her mom always said, ‘Be an attorney’.

This scenario still seen in society, people think women can’t handle criminal, can’t do the same hard work which a man can.

1. NDTV September 6, 2007:- The case of the Army General Major Gen eral AK Lal accused of sexually harassing a woman officer Captain Neha Rawat has taken a murky turn. On Thursday evening in Chandigarh the General’s daughter questioned the woman officer’s character. The woman wrote to the GOC of the Army’s northern command accusing her Commanding Officer of misbehaviour and misconduct.

2. Times of India Aug 27, 2013: Recently at Latehar in Ranchi on 27th August, 2013 a police woman was brutally raped by some people when she was travelling with her family for a cremation of her relative. The incident had sent waves across the state which forced state police chief DGP Rajiv Kumar, with senior police officers including the chief of the Crime Investigation Department to visit Latehar on Sunday. The senior cops visited the accident site and had given instructions to the district police. The woman constable was going to Garhwa in a car with her family members.

In another vehicle the dead body and few members of her family were travelling. They were accosted by a gang of dacoits on the Latehar Garhwa National Highway 75 who looted their mobile phones and dragged the police woman to the side of the highway where they raped her.

3. Four or five stressed-out women police commit suicide every year. Stress-related ailments have killed more serving policemen in the past three years. Several inspectors and constables have died of heart attacks while on duty. Constables are feeling that they work under great pressure and their job is demanding and uncertain, also, public expectations from the police are high. During festivals timings, constables often work for more than 36 hours at a stretch. This may take a heavy charge on their health. Stress can
cause hypertension, joint pains, high blood pressure, diabetes as well as paralytic strokes and heart attacks. They also experience lack of concentration, resulting in their making errors while passing orders or taking important decisions. Besides the routine work, women constables often face stressful situations because of harassment from male superiors.

The overall goal of the study is to explore the major personal and cognitive factors with occupational stress, and identifying the relationship between amounts of stress, causes and the relations between the socio demographic factors-In Indian contexts M. Jeya Kumaran did a research work on November, 2012.

4. NAIROBI, Kenya, By SIMON NDONGA | August 22, 2013:- The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) now says it has so far received 759 complaints against individual police officers, most of which are related to sexual harassment. “It is a very serious thing and a lot of women suffer where they are subjected to a lot of harassment by their seniors.

That is a major area that we are going to be reigning in on seriously.” He further pointed out that there are no structures within the management to deal with such complaints. “It is definitely a major problem and we are not convinced that there is serious action that is being taken within the management structure to reign in on it. It is a problem that has to be dealt with and that is why we have instituted our own committee to deal with that issue because it is one that requires a lot of attention,” he said.

5. A 2001 survey by the National Center for Women and Policing of the nation’s largest municipal, county, and state law enforcement agencies (those with more than 100 officers) found that women make up only 12.7 percent of sworn law enforcement positions.8 But this percentage is deceptively high, as only the nation’s largest police agencies were surveyed, and these agencies employ the highest percentages of policewomen.

The FBI’s Uniform Crime Report (UCR), which surveys most of the U.S. police agencies, notes that on October 31, 2003, in more than 14,000 city, county, and state police agencies, only 76,000, or 11.4 percent, of the police officers employed were women. Policewomen are still overwhelmingly employed in the lowest tier of sworn law enforcement positions (police officer,
deputy sheriff, or trooper).

6. The IACP survey reported results similar to those of the survey conducted by the NCWP: policewomen are both underused and undervalued in law enforcement. While confirming that the number of women in policing is growing and progressing through the ranks, it also revealed the following:

  • a. There are few women in policing, compared to their male counterparts.
  • b. Female officers still face bias from male officers.
  • c. Many departments lack strategies for recruiting women.
  • d. Female officers may face gender discrimination and a so-called “brass ceiling” that inhibits promotion.
  • e. Sexual harassment still occurs in many departments.
  • f. There are few mentoring programs for female officers.

7. As America entered into "The War to End All Wars‟, women came into policing to fill the shoes of male officers as they would in a near mirroring of events that would occur a mere twenty years later (Price & Gavin, 1981). These new officers operated as auxiliary police and were tasked with war-related duties, such as ensuring prostitutes were not in or around military camps. They also served as general supervision within army camps (Price & Gavin, 1981).

By the decade’s end women were employed as officers in over two-hundred cities in the United States (Price & Gavin, 1981). The following decade brought about the close of the First World War and a period of prosperity — and not just economically. Only twelve years after Alice Stebbins Wells was hired by the Los Angeles Police Department, the International Association of Chiefs of Police declared female officers to be a wholly indispensible portion of the modern police department (Price & Gavin, 1981). It seemed as though, for the first time in American history, the idea of female officers was widely accepted.

Despite this acceptance, women remained segregated — sequestered into a bureau they could not be promoted out of, held to higher standards in employment, and received less pay than their male counterparts throughout this time, women were cognizant, yet complacent, of their situation.

One anecdotal incident tells of a female officer who resigned after being provided with the same detective duties as male officers — a task deemed improper for a woman (Garcia, 2003).Above information taken from — Women in Policing: A History, September 2010,by Michelle Comeau and John Klofas( Centre for Public Safety Initiatives Rochester Institute of Technology).

Method

Case study approach:

Case study research, through reports of past studies, allows the exploration and understanding Of complex issues. Recognised as a tool in many social science studies, the role of case study method in research becomes more prominent when issues with regard to education, sociology and community based problems such as poverty, unemployment, gender related issue, illiteracy, etc. were raise. Here I am try to understand the problem of women police in gender related issue so I think this process will help mo to do my research in a good way.

Field site:

I chose my field sites as V.N Purav Marg connecting Deonar and Chembur, its nearby areas for a major reason that is of deficiency of time and quick accession. As these sites are filled with the locations which I feel is necessary to visit and know and will help me in constructing an overall framework of my research. Secondly I get more than 4 police stations which give me a good number of women police officer whom I can interview.

Unit of analysis:

I think for my research study it would be appropriate to use both individuals and institutions as the units of analysis. Women police (individuals) are the most essential element in my study as the primary data would be gathered through them by methods such as interview, observation and focused group discussion.

They can provide us some deep information on the research topic which none other can do. The various women police and general people in V.N Purav Marg connecting Deonar and Chembur provided me various secondary data for analysis by the method of “observing documents and material culture”. These documents were unpublished news, article, personal incident etc.

DATA COLLECTION

Type of data:

I believe my research needs both types of data i.e. primary and secondary data as it would allow me to do in depth analysis of my research question. The primary data provided by the individual i.e. women police would give me an overall picture of their as well as societies’. The various incident faced by women police in their daily life. Much news those are published in news paper. Some institutions and individual research paper on this field. Most important data type is national or local survey report which represents a big picture. From those data we can also analysis some situation. Thus these documents are a source of secondary data.

Methods of data collection:

  • 1. Interview: This method of data collection would provide me in clear visibility to the different problems faced by the women police on gender related issue. I will come to know what is their perception towards the gender related problem they face, are they also think police force is a male dominated job till date, whether they are satisfied with their present condition or not and much more social factors. A questionnaire was designed to obtain information from auto women police on all aspects of their job satisfaction and dealing with the gender related problem.
  • 2. Observation: This type of sampling will give true result such how male police talk to the women police during work time. In a regular day when people are come to loge some report to whom they prefer to go and their perspective to women police also. The position or ranking of women police in her job, what kind of job they do like official, handling criminal etc.
  • 3. Observing document and internet: Detailed information can be derived from
  • the documents and internet studied during the course of my research. If I come to know some of new article’s name from those women police whom I interview, I will study those and try to catch some new document. During my survey if any incident happen I will come to know from internet surfing.
  • 4. Focus on group discussion: This method is socially oriented and the participants in an atmosphere more natural than artificial experimental circumstances can be easily studied and is more relaxed than a one-to-one interview. It will provide me quick results. The data regarding respect they get from people can be easily dealt with using this method of data collection. Because when you do group discussion you get many people’s view with in a sort time period. Sampling methods:

I chose purposive sampling to find answers to my research question. Because my research question develop around the topic of “How women police are affected by gender related problem as a part of male oriented job”. The methodologies chosen by me are based on the prime target to get primary data from the research subject and try to find the solution from those who face the problem. Therefore to solve the purpose of my research I chose purposive sampling.

Sample size: I will take interview of 15 women police. I try to categorise them on the basis of their job ranking. Also take some group interviews of people on the topic of their mentality to the women police officer.

Accession to field: People who are in the police force always have a tight schedule in their working time. It’s tough for me with maintaining my classes timing go and collect data any time. So I decide to talk and observe them and know when they have free time according to their job schedule I will go that time to take interview.

It’s a gender related issue and their male co-worker also related to this topic hence I will try to go when male counterpart is absent. Because that time those women police can express their view point freely with me. Rather than to take people interview and observing purpose regular day schedule is best for my fruitful research result.

Final words: ‘WOMEN’-a strong part of social convention and is the basis of our existence in the world. But now days, especially in INDIA, women are treating in so32000 murders, 19,000 rapes, 7500 dowry deaths and 36500 molestation cases are the violent crimes reported in India in 2006 against women. From my research I want to know those women have some power are they fell really safe from male.

Are they thinking increasing number of women police and their protest against their male counterpart can change the normal women’s situation? I try to contribute some new data on this field through my hard research work. I am also thankful to my institution and my guide to give me all kind of help and support to do my research in a good manner.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

  • 1. NEWS FROM TIMES OF INDIA (/H: /women police/41496768_1_woman-police-constable-police-station-other-two-boys.htm).
  • 2. NEWS FROM THE HINDU.
  • 3. International Centre for the History of Crime, Policing and Justice (http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/history-from-police-archives/Met6Kt/WomenPolice/wpFwp.html).
  • 4. Female police officers are rare but sought after for unique skills (http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/12/female_police_officers.html)
  • 5. International Research Journal of Social Sciences-Vol. 1(3), 15-20, November (2012)
  • 6. Women constitute only 5.33% of police forces in India — See more at: (file:///H:/women%20police/Article1-1035003.aspx.htm#sthash.tHqe1Cer.dpuf)
  • 7. Sexual harassment rampant within police ranks- IPOA (http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2013/08/sexual-harassment-rampant-within-police-ranks-ipoa/)
Updated: Jul 06, 2022
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Women police face problem. (2016, Apr 26). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/women-police-face-problem-essay

Women police face problem essay
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