Patriarchal Institutional Practices and Standpoint of Women Officers in Police Services of Pakistan

Abstract

In Pakistan, women police officers are stuck between cultural standards and their duty as police officials. Police department is still a male dominant organisation that requires manly image. Male law enforcement officers have yet to recognise women as equals. One group among Central Superior Services is the ‘Police Services Group of Pakistan’ (PSP). It is one of the oldest groups of civil services of Pakistan and almost all the senior police officers belong to this group. Initially males joined this group only but since last decade, females are also joining this group. The present study is conducted for better understanding and to explore the lived experiences of women police officers in Police Service of Pakistan. A semi-structured interview guide was developed to conduct In-depth Interviews from Women Police Officers posted at Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Twelve (12) women PSP officers were interviewed for the research purpose. The study intended to unfold the patriarchal institutional practices in this regard. Furthermore, how women PSP officers experience patriarchal institutional practices and what challenges they face during their service journey. The research findings indicated that majority of women police officers had joined the force willingly and many respondents agree that patriarchal norms do affect their lives. The major problems faced by them were gender discrimination and sudden calls for the night shift duties. Different sexual harassment incidents were also reported by the Women Police officers. Feminist Standpoint theory has been used as a theoretical framework to explain the results and findings of the study. The theory states that lived experiences of women becomes sites of epistemic knowledge and research based on women’ lives generate knowledge for the whole social order including men.