Engendering Justice - from Policy to Practice - The Fawcett Society

different needs and experiences of women and to bringdifferent perspectives and approaches to issues.However, token inclusion of women within senior positionsis likely to have little impact. Research suggests that a‘critical mass’ of women is needed in order to challengeexisting practices. For example, in Sweden, when womenmade up only 15 percent of the parliament they tendedto behave more like the male members of parliament.Conversely, as their numbers increased to 45 percent,women began to advocate for changes important toSwedish women and insisted that men take on socialwelfare responsibilities. 192 Arguably, therefore, achievinggender balance is necessary for any substantial change inapproaches to justice.Whether gender balance can be achieved, particularlyin senior levels, will depend on how responsive careerprogression and grading practices are to the needs ofwomen and how workplaces adapt to utilise the skillsand experiences of women. Adopting a gender neutralapproach, which ensures the ‘playing field remains thesame’ is not a solution. Rather, the participation of womenshould be understood as a route to challenging maledominance.The experiences shared with the Commission by the manywomen working in the criminal justice sector reveal thatsystematic discrimination and the male dominated cultureof the criminal justice agencies are still a major concern. Weexamine each of the agencies in turn.The PoliceEven in 2008 I have had very little experience of femaleofficers being treated equally once they choose tohave a family. The senior management make things souncomfortable they are forced into a corner. 193The proportion of women at senior levels in the policecontinues to be disappointing. As the table belowdemonstrates, in 2008, 34,404 of the 142,364 officerswere women (24 percent) and at Chief Inspector gradeand above 12 percent were women whilst 27 percent ofconstables were female. 194Table Three – Police Officer Ranks by Gender (31 March 2008)Police Numbers PercentagesMale Female Total Male Female TotalConstables 79,658 29,390 109,048 73 27 100Sergeants 18,779 3,569 22,348 84 16 100Inspector 6,262 982 7,244 86 14 100Chief Inspector 1,672 263 1,935 86 14 100Superintendent 954 113 1,067 89 11 100Chief Superintendent 455 58 513 89 11 100ACPO ranks 180 29 209 86 14 100Total 107,960 34,404 142,364 76 24 100Page 67