Participants at the ‘Women Police Networking Symposium’ were of the view that lack of proper recognition of services was hampering women from joining the police force.
Sharing their views on the second day of the symposium which was organised by the Women Police Network (WPN), women police officers said female employees of the force had rendered great services and had won adulation but their achievements were never acknowledged amicably.
They said, “Constable Shazia Gul of Nowshera Police was the first policewoman of the country to lay down her life in the line of duty and Deputy Superintendent of Police Shahzadi Gulfam received the prestigious International Female Police Peacekeeper Award but their services were not presented as role model for others”.
The speakers further pointed out that taboos and morbid social norms do not facilitate working women in our society.
“As the society has a stereotypical image of women, police is not considered a career of choice for women as they are considered too sentimental, excessively passive and considerably tender for a harsh, dangerous and extremely challenging work environment,” they added.
“It is a fact that women are not a significant part of our work force which is a good portrayal of our social attitudes which betray severe gender based prejudices prevalent in our society,” they said.
They added that in Islamabad only 211 women were rendering services, including 10 women officials in traffic, 12 in special branch, 12 in security division, 33 in UN, 37 in Anti Terrorist Squad, 44 in Operations Division, 63 in Logistic Division and nine women cops in ministerial staff.
Giving recommendation, they suggested that induction of more women in the police force would not only improve the police-community relations but would also enhance human rights standards.
“The contributions of women police officers could be significant in every aspect of policing, be it operations, investigations, community policing or prosecutions,” they further said.
They further asked for removal of any hurdles, real or manufactured, which were impeding the growth of women policing.
They also urged conducting of proper training of women police officials, as the current training environment resulted in a fair proportion of women recruits to drop out.
