Perspectives on gender inclusion at work: case of a British police service.

Abstract

Policing is labelled as a 'gendered' occupation (Davies and Thomas, 2008; Westmarland, 2001) and its gendered organisational practices work to the disadvantage of women (Martin and Jurik, 2006). This paper explores employee perspectives on gender diversity and inclusion in the London Metropolitan Police Service (MPS). The empirical evidence in this research shows that employees perceive the work systems and processes in the MPS as favouring the masculine police archetype. Female officers are generally confined to the boundaries of femininity but at the same time they are expected to behave like a 'model employee', which involves assimilating the masculine police archetype. The experiences of most female respondents depict the gendered division of labour (Davies and Thomas, 2008; Westmarland, 2001) that is linked to the business case, and which underpins the access-and-legitimacy perspective on workforce diversity (Dass and Parker, 1999; Ely and Thomas, 2001). Implications for practice and future research are considered.