Police force that ditched male choir employs two men for every woman

A POLICE force that disowned its own male voice choir because it did not promote gender equality employs more than twice as many men as women.

Derbyshire Police also has the biggest gender pay divide of any force in the UK with females earning on average almost 30 per cent less than male colleagues.

In a drive to reduce the massive gender diversity across his force chief constable Peter Goodman controversially focused his sights on The Derbyshire Constabulary Male Voice Choir – even though it does not contain a single serving policeman among its members.

Mr Goodman says he can “no longer support” the male-only bastion after it refused his request to introduce 50 female voices to transform it into a mixed voice choir.

The choir has been singing for 62 years and has raised more than £750,000 for good causes.

But from June it must end its association with Derbyshire Police and change its name to the Derbyshire Community Male Voice Choir.

The announcement came after it was revealed that the Derbyshire force has a 29 per cent gender pay gap.

And recent figures show its male bias when it comes to recruitment is also sky high.

The force has 879 male constables compared with just 463 women – a Chief Constable Peter Goodman and Derbyshire Constabulary Male Voice Choir 65 per cent to 35 per cent split. At sergeant level, 211 are men compared with 37 females – an 85 per cent to 15 per cent split.

The figures are little better at inspector level where there are 62 males making up 79 per cent of the total, with just 16 females, accounting for 21 per cent.

It is a similar story at chief inspector rank and above where there are 33 male officers compared with just 10 females – a 77 per cent to 23 per cent gender split. Choir leader Kevin Griffiths said: “Members are heartbroken and devastated.

“Some feel we have been the victims of political correctness.

“If we were forming a new choir, I would understand their position, but we’ve been going for decades.

“In that time we have raised £750,000 for different local charities. We have brought police officers and the community together. A number of our members are former police officers. We are the casualty of an agenda. But we don’t think it needed to come to this.

“I would have thought Derbyshire Constabulary would have bigger fish to fry with the gender pay gap than a male voice choir.

“We have done a lot of positive work for them over the years, including building strong links with officers and the communities they serve. That has been done through our work.”

The police force was contacted yesterday but failed to comment.