Ratio of Pakistani women in police lowest in South Asia

Islamabad
In Pakistan, women make 0.94 per cent of the total police force as compared to 7.4 per cent in Maldives, 6.11 per cent in India and 4.63 per cent in Bangladesh.
These statistics and some more interesting facts about situation of women police in South Asian states, including Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Maldives, are shared in a research report of Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI). The report titled ‘Rough Road to Equality: Women Police in South Asia’ was launched on Thursday. The findings of Pakistan in the report were compiled by Individualland Pakistan.
The report presents information on strategies and policies adopted by governments and police departments in the four countries to bring women on an equal footing in policing, and also analyses what more needs to be done. Most importantly, it draws on the experiences of women police personnel of different ranks in each country to give a glimpse of their realities, the challenges they face, and the larger institutional cultures and environments they work within.
The research says that barriers and challenges facing a woman in policing are multiple and interconnected. One of the first barriers to gender parity is the reluctance of women to join policing which point very strongly to the need to redouble efforts to clean up the image of the police and make it a more welcoming institution.
The study says that modern policing is totally opposite to the image portrayed in movies of South Asia which involves community engagement and caring instead of its masculine side as being only about ‘fighting’ crime and controlling the population at large. It says that in the four countries, media imaging of police -– especially India’s influential Bollywood depictions -– as rough, vengeful, willing to break every rule, and reliant on extreme violence which reaffirms the popular image that policing is no place for women.
It mentions that throughout the world, statistics from police departments show that women are severely under-represented in senior positions. Same is true for South Asia. Contributory factors include limited experience of various kinds of policing due to external and internal factors.
The report shows that among the total police force of 425,978 in Pakistan, the number of women is 4,020. The percentage is highest in Gilgit-Baltistan with 3.1 per cent followed by Islamabad and Punjab with 1.55 and 1.2 respectively. The lowest number is in Balochistan where women make only .31 per cent of the total force. In terms of department, the Federal Intelligence Agency (FIA) tops the list where 10 per cent of the total force is women.
To improve the situation of women in the police force, besides basic reforms, the research recommends the federal government to provide adequate resources to provincial governments to enable their police services to carry out required infrastructural works to including pick and drop facilities, basic facilities for women’s police stations, daycare centres, women’s toilets, women’s restrooms or changing facilities and adequate accommodation during postings.
For the National Police Bureau (NPB), the report recommended the department to ensure that the necessary policies are drafted and disseminated for adoption by police departments in relation to recruitment standards, child care, maternity leave, duty hours, flexible working and transport.
Besides that, it recommends the NPB to coordinate the effective implementation of the gender strategy by demanding delivery of the proposed gender responsive plans of action and engage in engage in oversight of the implementation of the gender reform process.
For police Ddepartments, the report stresses the need to review and standardise recruitment requirements, create more sanctioned posts for women, conduct awareness-raising, outreach and support to women to encourage them to apply and take measures to tackle the dominant male culture to make it a more comfortable and accepting environment for women officers.
The study suggests special measures to ensure women are not confined to gender-based policing roles and are given adequate training, support and experience to be mainstreamed throughout the police and also recommends addressing the training issues identified to ensure women officers have the necessary skills, experience and confidence to progress.
Speaking at the launching ceremony, Punjab Commission on Status of Women Chairperson Fauzia Viqar said that women police in Pakistan are outperforming the male officers and they stand shoulder to shoulder with male police officers in fighting crime, which is quite remarkable.
Former Inspector General of Police Sindh Niaz Ahmed Siddiqi was of the view that a policy of zero tolerance on sexual harassment should be formed in order to protect women and encourage women police to work together with male police officers.
Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative Director Maja Daruwala said that women are massively underrepresented in the senior ranks in the police department and focus should be on increasing the number of women in the police department.
Individualland Pakistan Executive Director Gulmina Bilal Ahmed said that cultural attitudes towards women working as police officers need to change.