WOMEN AND
TRANSIT ROLES
One problem in getting womenoutoftransitisthat most see themselves as bet- ter than men at carrying
out some of the traditional roles of a
transit officer. Most women, for exam-
ple, think they are better than men
at giving tickets. A female suboficial
commented, “When we put on a uni-
form, it means that we were hired to
do a particular job: enforce traffic
laws. But outside the uniform, we are
women, wives and mothers.”
Furthermore, according to surveys
I conducted with female officers,
women believe they can perform as
well as men in roles that are tradition-
ally assumed to be male: enforcing
the law, protecting the public, me-
diating conflict, or directing the po-
lice. 11 [see table on p. 45] Still, even
though male and female officers are
capable of performing the same tasks,
women face an added challenge of
having to deal with certain “gendered”
problems within the PNP.
Respondents identified an inflexible work schedule (women work more
than 12 hours per day), low pay and
the double role of being a mother and
policewoman as the top problems.
Additionally, many women mentioned tension between female officials and suboficiales , discrimination
against women, abuse, and favoring
“pretty” women.
The PNP is just beginning to address the new issues created by the
inclusion of women. For example, the
arbitrary dismissal of women due to
pregnancy was prohibited only five
years ago.
Over the long run, the question is
whether the PNP will address such
“gendered” problems that accompany
the feminization of the police force.
For one, attitudes toward women
need to change. The director of the
transit division asserted that the in-
clusion of women was “good on one
hand and bad on another because of
women getting married and having
children, which both cause problems
in the daily operations.”
NEEDED PNP REFORMS
At present, there is rising dis- satisfaction among female transit officers. It seems that he original pride in being
corruption-busters wears off with
time, as younger female officers are
looking for other opportunities and
are more vocal about problems. The
question then is what to do.
Female suboficiales who participated in this study suggested that
improving women’s incorporation
into the PNP should include adopting alternative scheduling models;
creating family benefits such as ma-ternity/paternity leave; addressing
women’s health and safety concerns;
increasing pay to match performance;
integrating the suboficial and oficial
branches; creating an internal om-budswoman who has the power to
report and punish abuse and discrimination; and establishing an internal
counseling program. Declining morale in the female force means that if
these suggestions are not taken seriously, the PNP may backslide from its
achievements of the past few years.
Catelina is one of the PNP’s nota-
ble success stories because she was
able to transition out of the transit
division and receive a prestigious
post in the PNP. But Judith illustrates
that not all female officers can rise in
their career.
Peru is still far from mainstreaming gender in its police force. The incorporation of women to reduce the
image of corruption is only a first
step and its success in combating in-stitutional-level corruption is yet to
be proven.
At the same time, other countries
have adopted similar models of including women in the transit division
to reduce corruption. Immediately
after Peru in 1998, Mexico City announced a reform to replace 900 male
transit officers with women. El Salvador, Panama, Ecuador, and Bolivia
have also included women in their
transit divisions, though not as thoroughly as Peru. Other countries have
taken the same steps but advanced
farther. Nicaragua and Chile have
much higher female participation
rates in more diverse divisions, and
Brazil has recently increased the number of women in administrative posts.
Peru could learn from these examples.
Corruption will not be fixed merely
be adding female officers. While there
may be a reduction in street-level
corruption through the inclusion of
women in the transit police, administrative corruption and gender-based
job dissatisfaction may threaten to
undermine those gains. If the reforms
are to do more than just change the
gender balance on the front lines of
the police service and actually improve the integrity of and respect for
the force, the government will have to
aggressively seek the full integration
of women into the force.
FEMALE TRANSIT
OFFICERS’ PRIDE
IN BEING CORRUPTION-BUSTERS IS WEARING
OFF WITH TIME.
Sabrina Karim was a 2010
U.S. Fulbright Scholar to Peru,
affiliated with Grupo de Análisis
para Desarrollo (GRADE). She
specializes in issues related to
gender and security and is starting
her PhD in political science at
Emory University in fall 2011.
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