Perth and Kinross’s top police officer has highlighted the changing fortunes of women in the force.
Chief Inspector Mike Whitford told The Courier that four of his seven inspectors are women a drastic change from when he joined the police in 1994 and male chauvinism still prevailed.
The area commander feels that, with the development of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s “50/50” agenda, now is an “opportune” moment to look at the challenges faced by women in the workplace and examine why it is hard for them to break through the “glass ceiling”.
He said: “Many people question the idea of positive selection or action to support women in the workplace, arguing that it should always be the best person to get the job, not based on their gender yet without understanding the impact of a lack of role models, a lack of flexible working arrangements and a lack of recognition of the factors influencing the working opportunities of more than half the population, how can we ever say we have the best people in a job, when the majority are only one gender.
“I joined Tayside Police in 1994 and at that time there were relatively few female officers, although a significant recruitment drive to attract more into the service had just started.
“Many older male officers resented women joining the service, openly stating that they shouldn’t be in the job, wrongly believing that one needed to be built like a rugby player to be effective,” Mr Whitford added.
He said the “destructive impact” of that attitude was illustrated by a conversation he had with a female officer who was coming to the end of her 30-year career, having started in the early 1970s.
“She had been in a wide range of specialist departments, ranging from CID, Special Branch, drugs branch, as well as specialist surveillance teams targeting serious criminals across the country,” he went on.
“I was jealous her career appeared to have been as exciting as you could get.
“I asked her what roles she had done and was shocked when she said she did the typing, made the tea and dealt with female victims and witnesses.
“Over subsequent years, I have lost count of the number of times I have supervised brilliantly talented women, but struggled to persuade them to apply for promotion.
“What started to break the mould in Tayside Police was the appearance of large numbers of talented female officers on the job, carrying out all aspects of policing just as effectively as the old guard.
“I smile at the memory of a group of us fighting with a particularly large and violent male in Perth, only to see a female officer walk up to him, tell him to stop being silly and lead him to our police vehicle like a lamb.
“Policing is not about physical force, it is about negotiation, communication and engagement with people to allow us to police by consent and women are brilliant at this.
“Here in Perth and Kinross, we have moved considerably from when I first joined, with a majority of inspectors and a third of sergeants being female.
“While we have moved some way, we have much more work to do.
“As the father of two daughters, I am determined to play my part in improving the opportunities for women to avoid the repetition of what happened in the past and allow them to maximise their potential.
“This is not pro-selection, it is striving to achieve an even playing field so that, with greater certainty, we can say we have the best people for the job.”