(Published in the Statesman, Kolkata and Delhi on Sunday 26 October 2014 under the title WOMEN AS COPS)
The public perception of a burly,
mustachioed policeman wielding ‘danda’ with one hand and pocketing bribe with
the other is a British legacy. This stereotype has stuck and needs to be
corrected. The ideal police should be in the image of Ardhanarishwar, half female and half male, an amalgam of feminine
compassion and male machismo. Take it metaphorically and not literally or else
the champions of feminism will rise up in arms. Women can take tough decisions
- we have the example of Indira Gandhi – and are in no way inferior to men but
nature has made them differently so that one complements the other.
Our constitution guarantees gender
equality but does not prescribe a quota or a time frame. Our political parties
are brazen enough to vociferate a fifty per cent quota for women in police jobs
without debating its implications. I am all for women’s empowerment and have
for long been an advocate of feminization of the Indian police but not on pro
rata basis and not as a knee-jerk response to demands by women lobbies. Any
move towards gender equality should be preceded by gender sensitisation and
gender mainstreaming. Entry of women into police should begin in small doses
and gradually expanded. Increased women
participation will soften the otherwise harsh mien that police carries.
Women
are joining the police in increasing numbers so their induction is no more a
mere cosmetic exercise but if it results in an image makeover for the police so
much the better. What must seriously be debated is whether they are to form
part of mainstream policing or be earmarked for desk duties or for select jobs
relating to women and children? Woman has
been traditionally perceived as the home
maker. Admittedly she can multi-task better than a man. It will still need some
juggling to reconcile her role as a cop with that of a wife and mother? Unlike
other government jobs one is on call in the police 24x7. Will she have the same
uncertain duty hours as her male colleagues? Will she have to be escorted home
at the end of the day? Will she be at the risk of transfer anywhere anytime at
the whim of the department? Women in the Indian Police Service may serve as
role models but their conditions of service are vastly superior to those of the
rank and file. Police will continue to be a male bastion and women joining the
force must be mentally strong to rub shoulders, not literally, with their male
colleagues. It should be made clear to them that once they join the
organization they should not expect to be treated with kid gloves. Gender
equality does not merely mean pay parity but also work and risk parity.
To
ensure what has been said above women must meet the prescribed physical and
psychological standard and should not expect deficiencies to be condoned on
‘compassionate ‘ground’. Recruiting widows and daughters of policemen killed on
duty is fine but compassion should not extend to taking in over-age or
physically unfit candidates. Let them look petite but their bearing must
inspire confidence in the public. We come across some smartly turned out young
women performing their duties confidently, whether frisking at the airports,
directing traffic or performing mela
duty. For that they must undergo the same training as men. It is heartening to
see women trainees at the National Police Academy not being shown any
concession and them taking the rough and tumble of a rigorous training in their
stride
The
raison d’être of women’s increased induction into police is that they will
better serve the needs of their gender who account for nearly half the total
population. True, a female victim or complainant will feel more at ease in
narrating their woes, rape in particular, to another woman. Incidence of
reporting will hopefully increase. Whether that will lead to a more successful
follow-up and detection is another matter. There will be some efficient women
cops and some not so efficient. In either case they cannot act in isolation and
will often need the support from outside.. Women have a keen sixth sense which
can make hem good investigating officers but anti-crime operations and law and
order situations will at times call for the use of brawn which their male
colleagues may provide.
Will
police women be utilized in dealing with crimes against women only? If so there
may be times when they may find themselves out of work. It is suggested that crimes
and situations should be identified and entrusted to women police to handle on
need basis. That brings us to the allied issue of having all-women police
stations. States have been competing with one another in this regard without an
audit of any special benefit that may have accrued from this experiment. Should
these police posts be out of bound for male victims and complainants? Rather
than having an all-women police station let there be adequate number of police
women at every police station to empathise with women who come for help. There
are and will be several women capable enough to be posted as officer-in-charge
of a police station. Give them a chance but gender segregation may be a
regressive step. At any rate an all-female supervisory hierarchy cannot be
assured for a long time to come.
Let
us hope women joining police will bring down the level of corruption in police?
Will police women show more integrity than men when the test comes? Only time
can tell but instances have come to light where women have succumbed to the
lure of the lucre just as men. It may be only a matter of opportunity and their
learning the ropes.
Any
intake of women into police will eat into job prospects of men who perceive
themselves as bread earners. Some degree of resistance should therefore be
expected, Police has traditionally been a male bastion and it will take time
for men to get used to the presence of women in their midst as equals and, in
some cases, as their superior. Men at times indulge in ribaldry as a release
from on-job monotony and tension. In
mixed company they will have to be on guard all the time lest they hurt female
sensitivity, however inadvertently, by their gestures and nuances. No more
sharing of bawdy jokes. This is only the male perspective. For women the
prospect must be more daunting. They will remain vulnerable to sexual
harassment during and after working hours..They have to be extra careful in
their responses lest an innocuous smile is misconstrued. Gender sensitization
is thus going to be the biggest challenge but which will be overcome with the
passage of time. As pace of feminization gathers speed, hopefully, women will
be integrated into the force and accepted as comrades-in-arm.
No male-female ratio can be fixed for
jobs in police. Even in more liberal and open western societies there are today
far fewer women in police compared to men. That is because even in the west it
is women who are looked upon as home makers and are considered more suitable
for fixed-hours jobs which policing is not. An allied problem in the west is
their retention which may not be relevant here given India’s low income graph.
The world leader is Belgium where one-third of cops are women; Australia and South Africa come a close second and third with nearly
thirty percent. India is trailing at a little over five percent. Among the
states while Maharashtra has the highest number of women police Tamilnadu has
the highest percentage of women cops. Surprisingly, the more literate states of
Kerala and Meghalaya have not been able to catch up fast. Considering the background
of her social inhibitions India has not done too badly. Feminization of Indian police is a fait accompli. Let entry of women into police continue to be an ongoing process without being in a
hurry to jump from five to fifty percent.
Sudhir Kumar Jha
(The author is a
former Director General of Police, Bihar. He can be contacted at sudhirjhapatna@gmail.com)
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