In the spirit of International Women's Day (8 March) Police is paying tribute to the women who have served our organisation.
As this image implies, women in New Zealand Police haven’t always been on an equal footing with their male counterparts. For a start they had to wear skirts - not the most practical attire for police work. Trousers as an option for women were eventually introduced in 1981.
More recent initiatives to attract women to a career with Police and support their advancement are showing results. The number of women in blue has increased by 46 percent over the past ten years, and women now make up nearly 20 percent of 8,845 constabulary staff.
However, representation of women at a senior level is still lower than we would like. To address this Police is focusing on the early identification of woman leaders from as early as their Police College days.
Leadership development programmes, flexible employment opportunities and strong internal support networks have been created to ensure women can fulfil their potential. It is heartening that the number of female senior sergeants is growing faster than that of their male counterparts.
With more than 30 specialist areas ranging from criminal investigations and cyber crime, family violence to forensics, youth education, search and rescue, there has never been a better time for women to excel in a career with New Zealand Police.
International Women's Day links