Police Stations: Lonely Workplaces for Women

In our second dispatch from the Project on Women in Police, we share observations on the make-up of a police station, and how its design and practices shape the experiences of women personnel at different levels. Read the first post in this blog series here.

A police station anchors key functions such as crime reporting, registration, investigation and documentation, among others. It is also responsible for maintaining regular interactions with local communities, taking steps to prevent crime and ensuring public safety at large. Serving in a police station is seen as a source of courage and prestige for police personnel. Police identity is expected to prevail over all other identities, including gender. However, this is not usually the case. As our field work for the NLS-Karnataka State Police research project shows, gender stereotyping is clearly visible in all policing work, including within police stations.

Rank hierarchy in a police station

Typically, a police station, or thane, has around 40-50 police staff at any given point. Personnel are classified along five ranks: Constable, Head Constable, Assistant Sub-Inspector, Sub-Inspector and Inspector. Of these, Constable and Sub-Inspector are direct-entry ranks whereas the others are based on promotions. In a larger police station, the Officer-in-Charge, commonly referred to as the Station House Officer (SHO), is of the rank of Inspector (with over 25 to 30 years of service). Smaller stations are headed by a Sub-Inspector. On an average, the SHO is assisted by 2-3 Sub-Inspectors and 5-6 Assistant Sub-Inspectors, who together constitute the investigating ranks at the thane. Around 20-30 constabulary staff (Head Constables/Constables) serve as foot soldiers assisting officers in carrying out various duties. Being a disciplined force, the police maintains a clear hierarchy between the investigating ranks and the constabulary, with the latter having little authority or say in any form of decision-making.

Women in police stations in Karnataka

Given this tight structure, the share and location of women within the rank hierarchy has a bearing on gender dynamics in a police station. The largest proportion of women in the Karnataka civil police (excluding the armed battalions) is at the constabulary level, at 14.53%.[1] Among the investigating ranks (ASI, SI and Inspector), merely 8.56% are women. This means that at least 134 police stations (12.7%) in the state do not have a single woman officer in the investigating ranks. Further, SHOs or officers in charge of police stations are predominantly men. In other words, positions of responsibility and power remain dominated by men. Policewomen are far from emerging as a critical mass necessary for driving deeper cultural changes within the organisation.[2]

Policewomen at work

…at the Constabulary

 At such low numbers, police stations are often lonely workplaces for women, especially among the constabulary. This is particularly true of rural police stations where the available women staff is widely dispersed to ensure the presence of at least one woman constable in every police station. As a result, several stations have just one or two women constables present at any given point.

Women constables tend to be concentrated in indoor tasks such as record keeping, maintaining registers, and staffing helpdesks. With male constables taking on outdoor duties like serving summons, attending court hearings, delivering notices and doing beat rounds, rural police stations often wear a deserted look.

Moreover, they tend to assume certain roles based on gender norms. For instance, during our visits, women constables would often take on the work of arranging seating or refreshments for us, even when male constables or officers were present. Where officers are concerned, this could be explained by the workings of rank hierarchy. An officer cannot be seen doing tasks when a constable (male or female) is around.

Being few in numbers, women constables in rural police stations prefer to keep to themselves. Their interactions with male colleagues seem purely work-related, and that too, mostly in response to something asked of them. Our conversations and focus group discussions suggested a well-entrenched moral code at work, where casual mixing is frowned upon and often results in a woman’s character being questioned. Indeed, women constables shared several instances of being subjected to taunts and loose talk both by their peers and supervisors. One can imagine the deterring effect this would have on them taking any initiative, or worse, voicing their grievances before their (mostly male) supervisors.

If police training is at all addressing the need for setting aside stereotypes and working together in the interest of efficiency, it is yet to translate on the ground. The fact that induction training for constables is imparted separately for men and women recruits does not help. For many women joining as constables, and indeed for men too, entering the police service marks the first time they interact with the other gender (outside of their family) in such close proximity. In the absence of any formal sensitisation from day one, men and women police personnel tend to fall back into established gender roles and socially acceptable forms of behaviour as they navigate shared workspaces.

Town and city police stations tend to fare better. The buildings tend to be larger, with more staff available at any point, and a palpable sense of activity with people coming in and out. Here women constables appeared far more comfortable as they were in groups of at least 4-5. It was evident that they preferred to work in groups, drawing strength and support from one another. Increasing the numbers of women, therefore, is a crucial first step in making police stations gender friendly workplaces.

…in the Investigating ranks

Gender dynamics play out differently in the investigating ranks. Being in positions of authority, women officers are more confident and command greater respect. But here too we noticed women officers drawing strength from numbers. For instance, during one of our visits to a thane, we ended up interviewing two women Sub-Inspectors together instead of the one we had gone to meet—not by design but because one officer happened to be visiting the other and decided to stay back.

While interviewing women Sub-Inspectors alone, we noticed a tendency among their male subordinate staff to constantly interrupt our conversations under the pretext of getting documents signed. This happened even in a thane where the woman Sub-Inspector was the officer in charge. We had instances of male staff going to the extent of answering questions on behalf of the woman officer. One cannot imagine this happening with a male Sub-Inspector, or women constables feeling comfortable enough to just walk into an officer’s room, let alone lingering there. During our interviews with male officers, particularly SHOs, occasionally an officer would ask a woman constable to join the conversation, but in all such cases, she would stay quiet the whole time.

Towards a gender diverse workforce

There are several lessons that stand out. While women are joining the constabulary in large numbers, they are far from claiming their workspaces. This suggests the need for specially designed measures to continually encourage them to assert themselves and take initiative. In the case of women joining as Sub-Inspectors, it is clear that rank and authority are not enough to insulate them from restrictive gender norms and attitudes. Among other measures, targeted leadership training for women police officers could enable them to set clearer boundaries at all levels—with their subordinate staff, peers and seniors. A gender friendly workplace is crucial to their performance and growth within the service.

These are some of the strands of interventions planned under the project, once the study on the challenges faced by policewomen is submitted to the Karnataka police department. We welcome any suggestions, feedback, ideas and resources readers may wish to share on issues related to overcoming gender stereotypes in workplaces.

Notes

[1]  Table 3.1.4 read with 3.1.9, Data on Police Organizations in India, 2022.

[2] Research posits this to be between 25-30% representation.

About the Author

Devyani Srivastava is the Principal Investigator and head of the Women in Police Project, Karnataka. Based in New Delhi, she is a researcher on access to justice, police reforms, human rights and gender diversity, with 15 years’ work experience in the non-profit sector.