ROUGH ROADS TO EQUALITY

In terms of infrastructure, women frequently identified the need for separate toilets, resting rooms and prayer
space for women. One woman mentioned the need for improved medical facilities. Another highlighted the
benefit of a gymnasium and arrangements for games and sports activities. Other suggestions included the
need for adequate transportation to be provided.
Constables shared these priorities on professional development, balancing work and family duties and
infrastructure. Specific suggestions for training included driving training for all personnel, as well as training
on medical care and computer literacy.
Women also emphasised that they needed to be given opportunities based on their experience. One participant
highlighted that personnel in small units don’t get the same opportunities as those in larger ones. To the
extent that women aren’t posted in larger units due to lack of separate accommodation for women – or, more
alarmingly, political interference in promotions and postings – these concerns must be remedied to ensure
women’s career development.
Focusing on Solutions
These responses throw up a comprehensive list of institutional measures that can be taken to address
impediments that women police themselves have identified. Day care facilities, separate toilets and
resting rooms for women in police stations, driving lessons, computer literacy training, providing
games and sports activities, include just a few. Facilitating regular and open dialogue between ranks
is a sure way for police leadership to ensure that issues around working conditions can be shared and
solutions suggested.
There was a recurring and important difference between Constables’ responses to those of mid-level
personnel. Several women Constables emphasised the need for “good behaviour” from senior officers and
male peers. Though this phrasing is imprecise, it implies that women Constables face, at a minimum,
less respect than their male peers, as a result of their rank (reinforced again from similar responses to
other questions). At worst, this term is a euphemism for sexual harassment. The repeated mention of this
concern indicates that the Police Headquarters should undertake further study to determine the nature of
the problem and take steps to address it.
Having now asked women personnel to highlight the best points, as well as the obstacles they experience
while working in the police, we asked them to reflect on whether or not the police department is currently
a good place for women to work.
Survey Findings
WOMEN POLICE IN BANGLADESH
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