Breaking the
Brass Ceiling: Policewomen Around the World
This post, written by Inclusive Security’s Kristin Williams, originally
appeared in Global Post.
May 13, 2014 - This week, tens of thousands of law
enforcement officers from around the world will gather in Washington,
DC to celebrate National Police Week. Women are climbing the ranks of
police forces in a myriad of ways and sometimes in unexpected places.
Whether they’re countering terrorism in Pakistan,
reducing corruption in Peru,
or keeping the peace at local protests and in faraway UN missions alike,
policewomen are a potent, if underrepresented, force for law and order.
See how women are represented among security forces around the world,
brought to you by the Institute for Inclusive Security, which is working
to revolutionize who makes the decisions about war and peace.
In Iraq,
policewomen are staffing checkpoints and saving lives. Here, Iraqi
police recruits learn to disassemble AK-47s in basic training at the Iraqi
Police Academy in
Karbala. Previously, only lower
ranks were open to female police, who conducted jobs such as directing traffic
or searching women at
checkpoints. In 2009, this prohibition was lifted and
the first class of women advanced through elite officer training. (Photo: MC1
Wendy Wynam/Wikimedia Commons)
In Pakistan,
more female recruits can combat terrorism and extremism.
Here, Pakistani policewomen receive training from the US Embassy in Islamabad.
Though research shows that increasing recruitment
and retention of female officers can improve the effectiveness of police
actions against violent extremism and terrorism, women make up only 0.89 percent
of Pakistan’s
total police strength. (Photo: US
embassy/Pakistan)
In Liberia,
all-female police units are undertaking UN peacekeeping missions.
Here, Indian policewomen stand in formation during their deployment as UN
peacekeepers in Liberia.
Since 2007, India
has sent annual rotations
of all-female police units to help restore peace and security to the formerly
war-torn country. Globally, women now make up about 10 percent of police personnel in
UN peacekeeping missions.
In Papua New
Guinea, female police officers are climbing
the ranks. Here, a woman stands with her male-dominated recruit class,
ready for police training. Just this year, the country announced
its first promotion of a female officer to the rank of chief superintendent.
(Photo: DFAT Photo Library/Flickr Commons)
In Australia,
women make up 22 percent of the federal police force. Here, a
policewoman in New South Wales, Australia,
handles crowd control at a protest. Australia’s
first policewoman, Lillian May Armfield, was appointed as a
special constable in 1915. By 2011, about 22 percent of the
Federal Police were women. (Photo: Kate Ausburn/Flickr Commons)
In Ghana,
policewomen are leading the fight against human trafficking. Here,
female officers prepare for a riot control exercise in Accra,
Ghana. The Ghana Police
Service has one of the highest proportions of women in West African police
forces, with an estimated 20 percent as of
2007. This includes a female-led Anti-Human
Trafficking Unit, which has rescued hundreds of victims —
including children — from exploitation. (Photo: Courtest/Kapital971)