Racist bullying of BAME (Black and Asian Minority Ethnic) women within police services in England: Race, gender and police culture

AuthorMarina Hasan
Published date01 June 2021
Date01 June 2021
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1177/14613557211004619
Subject MatterArticles
Article
Racist bullying of BAME (Black and Asian
Minority Ethnic) women within police
services in England: Race, gender and
police culture
Marina Hasan
Department of Arts, Design and Social Sciences Criminology and Policing University of Northumbria, UK
Abstract
This article examines the hidden and under-researched area of bullying and harassment of Black and Asian Minority Ethnic
(BAME) women in the police service in England. It discusses the impact of a historical policy failure to acknowledge the
importance of intersectionality in matters of diversity and the continuing struggle between race and gender. This
contributes to the ‘invisibility and sexualization’ of BAME women in policing. In doing so, it makes BAME women
susceptible to unique tactics of bullying and harassment that contribute to their impeded progression compared with
their White counterparts. These unique tactics are enhanced by the police organization and enforced by police culture.
The article concludes that the bullying and harassment of BAME women are underpinned by issues of patriarchy and
racism that are difficult to challenge in a bureaucratic and hierarchical organization like the police.
Keywords
Bullying, harassment, BAME women, police, race, gender
Submitted 01 Nov 2020, Revise received 01 Nov 2020, accepted 04 Jan 2021
Introduction
The voices of Black and Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME)
women working in police services in England have been
marginalized in much of the existing debate about diver-
sity, race and policing. Their voices need to be heard and
acknowledged in fostering their own empowerment within
the intersecting oppressions of race and gender and also for
their social standing. This article emphasizes the impor-
tance of capturing and highlighting the experiences and
stories of BAME women who have experienced bullying,
harassment and discrimination in the workplace in some
form or other. Moreover, the article focuses on understand-
ing the day-to-day struggles of BAME women within
police services in England in how they deal with everyday
unfair treatment, racism and sexism at work. It is important
to understand their coping mechanisms and survival strate-
gies within the institutional setup. The article is based on a
study that focuses on whether police culture acts as a facil-
itator for the bullying and harassment of BAME women
and explores whether there is an underlying discourse as to
why BAME women suffer bullying and harassment within
police services in England. The study also aims to identify
the nature of this discourse and how it has impacted on the
progression of BAME women in policing.
Waddington (2009) identified that there is very little
comparative research on Black and White men and women
police officers in police services in England. Mir za and
Sheridan (2003) contends that gender is viewed as White
issue, whereas it is taken for granted that race is viewed as
Black male issue. BAME women appear to fall into the
cracks between the two. They are often invisible, occupy-
ing a blind spot in mainstream policy and research studies
Corresponding author:
Marina Hasan, Department of Arts, Design and Social Sciences Criminol-
ogy and Policing, University of Northumbria, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1
8ST, UK.
Email: ree4ron@yahoo.com
International Journalof
Police Science & Management
2021, Vol. 23(2) 182–195
ªThe Author(s) 2021
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/14613557211004619
journals.sagepub.com/home/psm

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