GENDER DIVERSITY IN SRI LANKAN POLICE SERVICES

Author: D. D. D. Imalka

Abstract

Sri Lankan police service is playing a pivotal role in maintaining law and order within the island. SL police service was a historical male centric institution and recently it has been marching to gender imbalance within its institutional structure. The general objective of this study was to get an understanding on nature of gender diversity within institutional structure of Sri Lanka police service along with reviewing gender composition, policies pertaining to gender inequality and challenges faced by female officers. Throughout the study the researchers have strived to answer the research problem Does Sri Lankan police service has equal grounds to both male and female officers? There had been 56 police officers selected to the sample using purposive sampling technique among the registered students for postgraduate diploma in criminology for 5 years from 2018 to 2023.the study elaborated that only 12%of female representation remains out of total workforce of SL police service. There are many gendered issues existing in policies related to recruitment, training and other career advancements. additionally female police officers often undergo with the challenges like patriarchal assumptions rooted  in the policing structure, inadequacy of facilities and sexual harassments.as addressing a holistic approach to overcome gender inequality issue within police service long term and short term recommendations have introduced like developing physical and human resources, implying annual performance evaluation and merit based promotion system and  necessity of establishing  fair cadre system despite the gender.

 

Keywords: Diversity, Gender, Inequality, Institution, Police

 

How to Cite: Imalka, D. D. D., 2023. Gender Diversity in Sri Lankan Police Services. ‘Pumithiri’ e-Journal of Gender Studies, 2(2), pp.85-93.

 

Published on 19 Nov 2023