Tamil Nadu Police Training Initiatives in
Dealing with Domestic Dispute/Violence Petitions/Cases

K. Radhakrishnan, IPS
Inspector-General of Police
Tamil Nadu

With more and more women entering the hitherto highly male dominated professions like the police, several issues are gaining increasing attention. Some of the major issues pertain to their entry, survival and advancement. It is not enough to give entry to women in these professions as mere tokenism, but
it is important that they are provided a level playing field on par with men, given the same status and opportunities to fully discharge their duties and responsibilities. It is also important that a conducive professional climate is created in which women can survive with dignity and have equal opportunities for advancement.

Despite many improvements certain things have not changed at all and this is true of most of the professions including police. Available data shows that women are still concentrated in a limited number of areas and at the lower levels. Higher the rank, fewer the women. Although the doors to various professions are open to women, a host of subtle personal and social barriers still remain. These are barriers that laws alone cannot remedy; often they are part and parcel of the usual ways of relating to each other as men and women, and are so 'normal' that they are not even noticed.

However, they not only hamper women's participation but affect their productivity and advancement. 
Thus, the challenges of gender mainstreaming become imperative and needs be given the due attention that it deserves.

The existence of gender stereotypes, discrimination and inequality in the work place has been an area of concern for women in all sectors of employment. As part of the run up to the first national meet, the British Council supported two surveys (Indiresan, 2000), on the Perceived Work Climate and Attitudes of Women in Police and Organizational Role Stress experienced by women in police. Responses from 500 policewomen were received from all over the country from different ranks and analyzed. These national level surveys indicated some significant findings regarding workplace characteristics and constraints that women experience, in the police service. The studies suggested that a large percentage of women felt marginalized and discriminated with respect to training, promotion, horizontal mobility, and inflexible working conditions. Stereotypes hold them back from exercising their authority. These experiences have hampered full participation in professional activities and restricted their opportunities for growth at the workplace. The studies also indicate that women experience high levels of stress as a result of "role erosion" and feelings of inadequacy with respect to lack of knowledge and skills in discharging their responsibilities.

These findings indicate the challenges of gender mainstreaming of women in police to derive the maximum benefit not only for the women but for the police force as a whole. This brief article draws some findings based on a study of men and women in police in Delhi and discusses some of the salient issues holding back women in getting into the mainstream and what are the multi-pronged strategies that are needed to be put in place to facilitate this process.

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