Induct more women into the police force
Recently, Uttar Pradesh announced a “massive recruitment drive” to increase the number of women in the state’s police force up to 20%. Way back in 2013, the Centre had advised states to ensure each police station has 10 women constables and three sub-inspectors. Nationally, the policy benchmark for the proportion of women stands at 33%. Bihar with its sudden spurt from below 2% in 2010 to 25.3% in 2019 saw the fastest rise in the share of women in the police.
According to the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D), states still record lows of 3.31% (erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state) to highs of 22.14% (Chandigarh). It has taken India over a decade to move from 4.25% in 2010 to just above 10.49% in 2021. By contrast, Malaysia and China can boast 18% and 14% women personnel, respectively, and England, over 33%.
It’s not that there are no vacancies in policing — the national average hovers around 21.4 % — but the usual practice is to limit the intake to no more than one-third women. At that rate, as the India Justice Report 2020 points out, it will take Bihar three more years to reach 33%. States such as Madhya Pradesh will take 180 years.
During recruitment, the emphasis is on filling constabulary vacancies while key investigation and supervisory roles remain for men. As a result, women find themselves clustered in the lower ranks. Even states with the highest percentage of women police personnel, such as Bihar and Himachal Pradesh, have only 6% and 5% women at the officer level.
Still, the intention to increase numbers is a welcome effort. Between 2015 and 2020, Tamil Nadu went from 13% to 19%, Gujarat from 4% to 16%, and Telangana from 3% to 8%. Other states lagged or were found stagnating: Mizoram (6.8% to7%), Sikkim (8% to 8.4%), and Odisha (8.8% to 9.1%).
The usual excuses range from saying women are unwilling to join to citing a lack of their physical and mental “toughness”.
Despite being made out as dangerous and heavily dependent on physical prowess, in reality, much police work — if done well — involves tasks that require more brain than brawn.
The majority of everyday tasks involve communication with local communities, grievance redressal and conciliation, and problem-solving, patrolling, preventing crime, traffic regulation, registering serious crime, marshalling evidence, record keeping, and presenting at court. All these tasks need applied intelligence, negotiating skills, and intuition. The police don’t need to rush into battle with citizens on the streets or stave off armed robbers every day. Yet, women are seen acquitting themselves with bravery even in these situations. But in truth, as Jacob Punnoose, former director general of police, Kerala, said, “Good policing needs women more than women need police jobs.”
Yet there remains a lack of institutional preparedness to receive women, ranging from a reluctance to provide separate restrooms, reasonable hours of work, and flexitime (not just for women) to deep patriarchal resistance to accepting orders from them.
A much more serious issue is not being able to ensure their safety in the workplace through active prevention through sexual harassment committees and strict firmans that warn of zero tolerance for any inappropriate behaviour. Bullying and harassment are notoriously under-reported.
A Common Cause survey based on the 2019 Status of Policing Report found onefourth of policewomen saying their station/ jurisdiction did not have any sexual harassment committee. The report added that states such Bihar, Karnataka and West Bengal have the highest levels of bias against women in the police force, i.e., personnel from these states are most likely to believe that policewomen are less hardworking, less efficient, and should focus on their household duties.
The lack of institutional accommodation for their social and biological differences leaves them to accept subordination or pretend to be “one of the boys.” News reports of death by suicide signal that all is far from well for policewomen and that there is an urgent need for institutional inquiries.
Women in their professional surroundings must be able to feel safe and respected before they can provide safety to others. The image of the police force may not be enticing, but the need for employment and a natural ambition to better life opportunities will often trump this.
The rising crime graph of violence against women requires more energy to quicken the pace of bringing women into the force. Given an even playing field, women will join the police as they would any other profession where there is an institutional welcome.
The willingness of women in Bihar — usually seen as a more tradition-bound state — to join en masse when given the opportunity is evidence of this.