Gender equity approach to policing in Kenya: Lessons, challenges and prospects
| Author | Mangai Natarajan,Resila A Onyango |
| Date | 01 June 2022 |
| Published date | 01 June 2022 |
| DOI | 10.1177/14613557211064327 |
| Subject Matter | Original Research Articles |
Gender equity approach to policing in
Kenya: Lessons, challenges and prospects
Resila A Onyango
Kenya Police Service, Kenya
Mangai Natarajan
(Department of Criminal Justice,) John Jay College of Criminal Justice,
The City University of New York, USA
Abstract
Despite ample evidence of women’s value, ensuring gender equity–equality is a major challenge for police departments
worldwide. Using survey data gathered from a sample of 455 male and female police officers in the Kenya Police Service,
this study examines the non-western plights of women in policing and describes a theory change to formulate gender-
equity strategies for improved recruitment and retention of women in police service. Findings indicate that women offi-
cers can undertake most tasks better than or to the same degree as men, except for a small proportion of line duties,
mirroring the literature on women in policing internationally. However, family commitments, an emphasis on physical
strength for promotion, performance based on male standards, and male supervisors’attitudes present severe challenges
for women in the police service, reflecting the organizational climate and prevailing cultural norms. Implications for the-
ory, policy and research are discussed.
Keywords
Gender-equity, Kenya police, women police officers, theory of change, police roles
Submitted 30 Sep 2021, Revise received 30 Sep 2021, accepted 29 Oct 2021
Introduction
Study after study shows that female police officers are not
only as competent as their male colleagues, but also less
likely to use excessive force against citizens (Brandl and
Stroshine, 2013; Paoline and Terrill, 2004; Rabe-Hemp,
2008), receive fewer complaints from citizens (Porter and
Prenzler, 2017), are less likely to die by suicide (Wormer
and Bartollas, 2000), and are much less involved in miscon-
duct than are male police officers (Greene et al., 2004;
Lersch, 1998). Studies have also informed that women
have better emotional intelligence than men, which is a
quite important trait that is needed for modern-day policing
(Jadhav and Havalappanavar, 2009; Joseph and Newman,
2010; Ward and Prenzler, 2016). Further, evaluation of
gender-sensitive policing illustrates that more women in
policing increases public confidence and satisfaction, and
reduces violence against women (Darak et al., 2017).
Regardless, the representation of women in policing is far
from reaching the critical mass or gender one-third rule
around the world, because women’s representation in
police forces is as low as 5%.
The battle to achieve gender equality in policing has been
long. Historically, women have generally been inducted into
the police to perform in-house clerical and communications
support roles (Schulz, 1995). For example, in the United
States, women were deployed as matrons in 1890 and only
on 12 September 1910 was Alice Wells, a social worker,
Corresponding author:
Resila A Onyango, Kenya Police Service, Nairobi, Kenya.
Email: resila2001@gmail.com
Original Research Article
International Journal of
Police Science & Management
2022, Vol. 24(2) 147–161
© The Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/14613557211064327
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