‘We have never had a female Commissioner’
Women now account for one in four police workers in New Zealand, thanks to the efforts of trailblazers who fought for the right to serve. Danielle Clent reflects on their 80-year legacy.
When Valerie Redshaw joined the New Zealand Police in 1962, she wasn’t allowed to use the police gym without a female chaperone. Aged 24, she was the only woman to train as a police officer that year.
Redshaw, who went on to write Tact and Tenacity: New Zealand Women in Policing, had come over from England where she had been an officer for the Metropolitan Police in London.
The Wellington resident says New Zealand seemed backward compared to her previous job.
‘‘It was a little bit old-fashioned and coming from the London police, I found it quite bizarre,’’ Redshaw says.
Once she was out on the streets, Redshaw says she wasn’t allowed to arrest people without a male constable present, whereas in London she had been making solo arrests.
Redshaw left the force two years later to get married.
‘‘In those days they didn’t like to employ you if you were married because it meant that they couldn’t put you wherever they wanted you,’’ she says.
The New Zealand police force has come a long way since then - Superintendent John O’Donovan received a memorandum in 1916 stating there was no use for females in policing.
It said women wouldn’t be good for anything except escorting and handling female prisoners, or enforcing the
Infants Act and Industrial Schools Act.
The Infants Act 1908 centred around guardianship of infants, while the Industrial Schools Act 1882 ‘‘permitted the boarding out of children who were in the care of such schools’’.
There was much opposition to the appointment of female officers, and it was another 22 years after the memo to O’Donovan before Minister in Charge of Police Peter Fraser announced it would happen – and World War II meant it took another three years.
The first 10 women entered police training on June 3, 1941 – 80 years ago this week.
Back in 1938, when Fraser announced women could train for police, those who did had to be unmarried or widowed and between the ages of 25 and 40.
Early roles for female officers centred around working with children, females, and in the back office.
Redshaw says policewomen in the 1960s complained about not having enough work to do.
‘‘They were very much restricted in a role to do with women and children, female prisoners and taking statements from females.
‘‘You certainly didn’t have the full range of police activities which I had in London all those years before.’’
By the 1970s, Redshaw had finished having children and when she tried to rejoin the force, she received a letter saying police did not employ women with children.
It took until 1985 for the first mother, Constable Lorraine Parkinson, to graduate from police college. A maternity uniform was designed in 1989.
Redshaw returned to the police force in the 1980s in a civilian position, training recruits. She remained there until her retirement in 2002.
Glenda Hughes, now a Wellington regional councillor, was 19 when she started police training in May 1970. There were just six women on her course, and on graduating, Hughes found the rules ‘‘very interesting’’.
At the time, she was a New Zealand shot put champion, weightlifter and powerlifter.
Yet she wasn’t allowed to work on the frontline during night shifts – even alongside a male officer.
‘‘They made me answer the telephones. Policewomen weren’t rostered to do proper police work on night shift.
‘‘[We] were always kept in the station which I found quite interesting because, as I did say to one of my sergeants, ‘tell some of those guys to come down to the gym with me, and we’ll find out’.’’
Hughes says jobs for policewomen in the 1970s centred around attending female sudden deaths, talking to females who had been attacked, and looking after missing children.
‘‘The approach was very narrow as to what they thought policewomen were there for at that stage.
‘‘I didn’t like it, and I did challenge it.’’ Hughes eventually won her battle to work the beat on night shift.
She also challenged the unusual uniform policewomen wore in the 1960s and early 70s, which she says was unsuitable for physical work.
For the first 10 years, female police officers wore civilian clothes. This was said to help them detect criminal activity such as the presence of illegal bookmakers at the races in 1945.
Uniforms were introduced in 1952 and changed throughout the years to eventually include trousers.
For a time, Hughes wore a ‘‘black straight skirt, black stockings and a fitted jacket.
‘‘I split the side of that skirt on several occasions because you couldn’t possibly run in
it.’’
During the 1981 Springbok Tour, Hughes was one of few females in the riot squad and the only woman in Black Squad.
They were based in Auckland, where most of the violent demonstrations took place.
Hughes remembers carrying a fire extinguisher that protesters mistook for tear gas. She was dragged underneath the demonstration and people ran over her.
Her squad had to move protesters out of the way to get her off the ground.
‘‘That certainly was pretty hard.’’
As one of very few female police officers at the time, Hughes says she got to do a variety of jobs.
They included being a personal escort to Princess Anne on a New Zealand visit in the 70s.
Now, female officers have been recognised for how much they can add to the role.
‘‘That tells you how much it has improved,’’ she says.
Sergeant Sarah Stirling of the Royal New Zealand Police College started in the force almost 40 years ago and has seen huge changes for policewomen in her time.
‘‘We do have some really good women at the top and that’s what you need, I think, to see where you can get to.’’
Stirling says the police have worked hard to recruit women.
As of April 30 this year, 2418 females were in fulltime employment with the police force. That’s 23.7 per cent of all staff.
It’s a vast improvement from 1980 when just 210 females were in the force – making up 4.23 per cent.
The 80-year anniversary of women in police training is something worth celebrating, Stirling says, as it shows the progress the force has made.
‘‘Right from the beginning I thought we were going to be equal, and it’s taken a long, long time.’’
Auckland’s Counties Manukau has the highest number of policewomen in the country, with 322 fulltime female employees.
Detective Katie Bull, from the district’s major crime team, has been with the force since 2013, and says she’s never experienced sexism in the job.
She says her gender helps rather than hinders – people are more likely to approach or open up to a woman.
Bull finds it amazing to reflect on the past 80 years of service by female officers.
‘‘You look at the old photos and women police officers used to be issued a handbag – that’s sort of laughable now. It just goes to show what a long way we have come.’’
But she believes there’s still room for improvement.
‘‘We’ve never had a female commissioner, but I would like to say that is something we will see in the future.’’
‘‘ Women police officers used to be issued a handbag – that’s sort of laughable now.’’ Detective Katie Bull