NCJ Number
174242
Journal
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology Volume: 31 Issue: 2 Dated: August 1998 Pages: 119-140
Date Published
1998
Length
22 pages
Annotation
In tracing the role of women in the Queensland Police between 1931 and 1965, this study highlights the contradictory effects of the employment of women police, including the problematic nature of the use of women to police their own gender.
Abstract
From the consolidation of the Queensland Police in 1864 until 1931, there were no women in the force, despite the appointment of policewomen in all other Australian States during World War I. The election of a woman to serve in the Military Police gave leverage to the action taken by women's groups, and two policewomen were eventually appointed in the face of police union opposition and a resistant police administration. Social upheaval in Brisbane during World War II allowed for an increase in numbers and formal organization into a Police Women Section. Full powers were achieved in 1965, although women remained in an extremely restricted role. In terms of the aspirations of the women police movement, the establishment of women in the Queensland Police was a pyrrhic victory. Their limited numbers and separate establishment confirmed their marginal and inferior status. At the policy level, this study shows the need for strong antidiscrimination legislation to curb the destructive effects of discretionary decision-making in employment, particularly in male- dominated fields such as policing. It also confirms dominant themes identified in the development of women police in other countries. Persistent resistance forced women to resort to a variety of adaptive strategies and made for a low and complex process of infiltration of police ranks. 1 table, 85 notes, and 31 references