Gender Integration in Australian Policing: The Evolution of Management Responsibility
| Author | Tim Prenzler |
| DOI | 10.1177/146135579800100304 |
| Published date | 01 December 1998 |
| Date | 01 December 1998 |
| Subject Matter | Theoretical Review Paper |
International Journal of Police
Science
&
Management
Volume 1
Number
3
Gender integration in Australian policing:
The evolution of management
responsibility
Tim Prenzler
School of Justice Administration, Griffith University, Mt Gravatt Campus, Brisbane 4111,
Australia; tel: +61-7-38755613; fax: +61-7-38755608;
e-mail: T.Prenzler@gu.edu.au
Accepted:
9th
April, 1998
Tim Prenz/er is aSenior Lecturer in the
School
of
Justice Administration
and
a
mem-
ber
of
the Centre for Crime Policy
and
Public
Safety, Griffith University, Brisbane.
ABSTRACT
This paper
traces
the development
of
women s
formal integration into policing in Australia
with an emphasis on the role
of
legislation in
C!ffecting
change. Grudging compliance with the
requirements
if
anti-discrimination has
occurred
in the last two
decades
with alimited applica-
tion
of
the more demanding requirements
of
legislation oriented towards affirmative action.
This paper sets up a model
for
iffective
management qfequal employment opportunity
(EEO)
responsibilities and tests the level
of
current application
of
the model with riference
to
EEO
reports and other data on the status
qfwomen. Despite significant progress, specific
problems remain and the percentage
of
sworn
female
officers
will increase only very slowly
and will not
reach
parity with men unless more
dynamic ifforts are made to improve participa-
tion.
The
main areas
of
concern
are
physi-
cal ability entry tests, low application
rates,
lack
of
union support, managerial indifference
and inadequate diagnostic review. Two key
strategies
for
improvement derived from this
analysis are targeted promotion in recruitment
and the application
of
asystematic 'problem
oriented' approach to
EEO
management.
HISTORY
A
proper
history
of
women
in
policing
in
the
Antipodean,
former
British,
colonies
must
include
New
Zealand.
However,
there
is
very
little
published
material
on
the
New
Zealand
experience
and
this
paper
therefore
remains
firmly
west
of
the
Tasman
Sea.
The
fragments
of
informa-
tion
available suggest an
experience
very
similar to Australia's,
with
the
excep-
tion
that
women
police
were
first
ap-
pointed
in
New
Zealand
at a
later
stage
(during
World
War
Two)
(see Hill, 1986;
NZPEEOU,
1990;
Matthews,
1994;
Gib-
son,
1996
and
Corbett
in this
volume).
Unlike
New
Zealand,
which
has a
unitary
system
of
government
and
asingle
police
service,
the
development
of
women
police
in
Australia
occurred
within
the
geography
of
its
state-based
police
struc-
ture
(there
are six states
and
two
territories).
The
Northern
Territory
has its
own
police
service.
The
relatively small
Australian Federal
Police
(AFP) has
juris-
diction
in
commonwealth
matters
and
provides
community
policing
to
the
Australian
Capital
Territory.
The
idea
that
policing
involves
physical
confrontation
and
is
therefore
physically
demanding
has
been
the
major
ideological
source
of
opposition
to
women
in
police
work
in Australia.
The
appointment
of
policewomen
early
in
the
20th
century
International
journal
of Police
Science and Management.
Vol. I.
No.3,
1998,pp.241.-259.
©Henry
Stewart Publications,
1461-3557
Page 241
Gender integration in Australian policing
was
achieved
as a result
of
concerted
lobbying
by
women's
charitable
and
political
groups
which
argued
for
a
specialist
group
within
the
police
to
deal
exclusively
with
women
in
'low
risk'
situations.
Many
countries
introduced
policewomen
under
similar
circumstances
but
only
in
response
to
the
social
problems
and
labour
shortages
produced
by
World
War
One.
In Australia,
the
first
two
women
police
were
appointed
in
1915
in
New
South
Wales
(NSW).
By
1917,
all states
had
policewomen
except
the
'Deep
North'
state
of
Queensland,
where
the
incumbent
commissioner
held
out
against
the
national
trend.
It
was
not
until
1931
that
the
National
Council
of
Women
of
Queensland
succeeded
in
having
two
women
appointed
to
the
force
due
to
the
fortuitous
occurrence
of
a
former
Council
president
obtaining
aseat in
parliament
(Prenzler,
1998).
Women
were
appointed
to
the
Northern
Territory
Police
in
1961,
and
to
the
AFP
at
the
time
of
its
formation
in
1979.
The
AFP
has a
complicated
preceding
his-
tory
of
restructuring
of
various
security-
oriented
organisations.
The
amalgamation
of
1979
included
the
tiny
Australian
Capital
Territory
Police,
which
began
in
1927
and
appointed
women
to
its ranks
in
1947
(Osborn,
1997).
The
historical
record
on
the
status
of
policewomen
across
jurisdictions
in
Australia has
not
been
systematically
mapped
in
terms
of
the
achievement
of
key
conditions
such
as
equal
pay,
equal
powers,
uniforms
and
integrated
patrol.
Nonetheless,
with
the
excep-
tion
of
Queensland,
it appears
that
most
agencies
gave
women
equal
pay
and
pension
entitlements,
and
equal
powers,
upon
initial
appointment
or
soon
after.
This
is significant,
given,
for
example,
that
in
many
occupations
women
received
only
slightly
over
50
per
cent
of
the
male
'breadwinner'
Page 242
wage.
Despite
these
progressive
elements,
however,
in
the
main,
policewomen's
employment
conditions
reflected
con-
temporaneous
prejudices
about
women's
supposed
inferior
physical ability
and
biologically
determined
nurturing
role.
Different
height
and
age
criteria
impacted
disproportionately
against
women.
Higher
age limits
were
designed
(unsuccess-
fully) to
ensure
women
were
confirmed
spinsters.
Married
women
were
ineligible
for
recruitment
and
female officers
who
married
had
to resign.
Policewomen
were
usually
confined
to
very
small
numbers
in
women's
sections,
often
with
strict
limita-
tions
on
their
functions.
They
had
some
autonomy
working
directly
with
women
and
children,
and
also
served
as assistants
to
male
detectives
on
an 'as
needs'
basis in
duties
also
related
to
women
and
children
(Higgs
and
Bettess,
1987
and
Prenzler,
1994,
1998;
Tynan,
1995).
The
1960s
began
the
period
of
a
gradual
breakaway
from
this
'ghetto'
environment
when
women
entered
juvenile
aid
bureaus
and
school
traffic
squads,
although
it
was
the
introduction
of
mixed
patrol
teams
mainly
in
the
1970s
which
is usually
seen
as
the
real
turning-
point.
From
the
late 1960s,
there
was a
very
low
level
of
increase in
numbers
to
the
point
where,
in
the
census
year
of
1971,
women
constituted
1.8
per
cent
of
sworn
personnel.
By
the
early 1990s,
they
passed
the
10
per
cent
mark
and
numbers
continued
to
rise slowly.
Anti-discrimina-
tion
legislation
greatly
accelerated
the
rate
of
female
recruitment
and
shifted
the
source
of
change
firmly
onto
sources
outside
the
police.
Applicable
legislation
was
introduced
at
different
times
across
the
states
and
at
the
federal
level
from
the
mid-1970s
to
the
1990s.
Piecemeal
change
through
this
period
included
the
gradual
removal
of
the
marriage
bar
and
quotas,
dis-establishment
of
women's
sections,
the
creation
of
mixed
patrol
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