International Journal of Criminology and Sociology, 2021, 10, 1333-1341
1333
Gender and Police Leadership: An Analysis of Metropolitan Police
Departments in South Africa
Dee Khosa*
Tshwane University of Technology, Aubrey Matlala Street, Soshanguve, Pretoria, South Africa
Abstract: Despite a number of initiatives aimed at improving the representation and progressive of women in the law
enforcement. Studies continue to document the persistence of gender inequality within law enforcement agencies all
over the world and South Africa is not an exception. This article bring to light gender inequalities in the law enforcement
sector where women in leadership ranks remains low. Historically, the police career was male-dominated and females
were not allowed to work in the police. Therefore, equal gender representation in the workplace should by now be at an
advanced developmental stage in South Africa since the abolition of discrimination rules. The Commission on
Employment Equity of South Africa reported that women comprised 44.8% of the economically active population, yet
males were still in charge of senior management positions in South African industries including the law enforcement
environment. The data was collected from female officers from Metropolitan Police departments in Gauteng province.
The findings suggest that culture, stereotypes, economic and socio-political dynamics, and physical fitness were
perceived as barriers that hindered the representation of women into senior leadership positions.
Keywords: Leadership, women in leadership, gender equality, Metropolitan police department.
INTRODUCTION
There is a wealth of research investigating the
impact of women in the leadership role (Gipson, Pfaff,
Mendelsohn,
&
Burke,
2017).
Gender-based
discrimination is still evidenced in various workplaces.
Ernst & Young Global Limited, (2011) and Statistics
South Africa (2017) reported that there are 57.7 million
people in South Africa and more than half of the
population (52%) is women according to home affairs
registration, yet they are under-represented in social,
political
and
economic
spheres.
Stereotype
expectations have contributed to the ongoing
discrimination, that is, the exclusion of women in maledominated sectors. Women have been and to a certain
extent, still are part of a minority group in the law
enforcement environment but the past decade has
seen a steady infusion of females into this once male
dominated occupation (Ayman, Korabik, & Morris,
2009). This status quo is maintained in various ways,
for example, many employers have argued that it is not
feasible to appoint women in senior positions because
they would not cope with the demands of the position.
Women had previously been excluded from exercising
any form of expressing influence in policing, but they
are now taking their place in law enforcement, in spite
of the objections of some of their male colleagues still
prevailing. The government has initiated policies and
programmes that promote the inclusion of women in all
spheres of life. Despite these milestones, women
continue to face systemic barriers that hinder their
*Address correspondence to this author at the Tshwane University of
Technology, Aubrey Matlala Street, Soshanguve, Pretoria, South Africa;
Tel: +2712 382 9811; E-mail:
[email protected]
E-ISSN: 1929-4409/21
advancement in senior leadership positions in male
dominated jobs. Whilst there are literatures on the
unequal gender representation in historically patriarchal
societies, there is strong consensus in the academic
literature that diversity in leadership is beneficial to
society, organisations and individuals (Shore, Randel,
Chung, Dean, Ehrhart, & Singh, 2011). There is less
agreement on ways to assess impediments to diversity,
specifically the inclusion strategies promoting women in
South Africa’s Metropolitan Police Departments
(MPDs). Gender disparity exist in leadership positions
within the police service, the absence of women among
senior positions is more visible. According to Ernst &
Young (2000) emphasizes that societal structures
should no longer be based on the conventional
assumption that men are superior to women. One of
the notable advancements in the debate has been the
move to consider gender equality as a key element of
development. Palmer (1991) mentions that women's
concerns were first integrated into the development
agenda in the 1970s as a response to a growing
evidence that women that economic and social
development efforts had not benefited women as much
as men. This burgeoning state of societal awareness
encourages gender equality and the rejection of other
entrenched forms of inequality such as racism,
homophobia, heterosexism, classism and diverse
theories about the relationships between gender
inequality and the environment, which is the root of
gender oppression (Fall, 2015). It can be argued that
the empowerment of women in Metropolitan Police
Departments (MPD), requires full integration of the
overlapping social roles women assume regardless of
whether their work is seen as a job, career or
profession; and, this integration should not only benefit
© 2021 Lifescience Global
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International Journal of Criminology and Sociology, 2021, Vol. 10
sexual or domestic issues in the community, but should
support the changing social life of the nation within
public, commercial and industrial life. Discrimination of
women has taken a variety of forms from
marginalization to various form of mistreatment.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
POLICING IN SOUTH AFRICA
OF
WOMEN
IN
Cultures, socio-political issues and religion have in
the past promoted patriarchy and the oppression of
women (Attoh Franca, 2017). In South Africa, police
services, such as the metropolitan police departments
are now obliged to ensure participation of women in
various policing structures, from community policing to
strategic policing for community safety. Mlotshwa,
(2017) reported that the obligation to diversify into
leadership
positions
within
law
enforcement
environment presented opportunities to improve the
state of affairs in South Africa, especially with regards
to women participation in leadership positions. Various
South African leaders have advocated for women
inclusion into various sectors specifically the male
dominated industries. For example, in 1956, Sophia de
Bruyn led the Women’s March to the Union Buildings in
South Africa, protesting against discrimination of
women in society (South African History Online, 2017).
She was the founder of the South African Congress of
Trade Union (SACTU) which is known as Congress of
South African Trade Union (COSATU). In 1955 Sophia
was appointed as a full-time organiser of the ‘Coloured
People’s Congress’ in Johannesburg (Polisa, 2016) &
(South African History Online, 2017).
In 2016, Sophie de Bruyn addressed women and
advocated for young generation to take initiative in the
fight against inequality. She indicated that the
government has a role to play, its government should
also ensure that the 50-50 rule not only applies to
political positions, but should also be seen in senior
positions in the government (South African History
Online, 2017). The revolution against gender inequality
was very evident in the 19th century, many women had
started challenging gender equality, by skipping rules
and customs of the encroaching time (Newham,
Masuku & Dlamini, 2006) and (Gerson, 2009). Another
example is a women named Concepcion Arenal who
was the first woman to attend university in Spain
(Newham, Masuku & Dlamini, 2006). It is reported that
in 1820, to avoid detection she had to dress like men in
order to be allowed to enrol as a student at the
university to study law (Newham, Masuku & Dlamini,
2006 & Hlongwane, 2016)
Dee Khosa
First Entry of Women into Law Enforcement
Environment
The initiation of policewomen and women patrols in
South Africa was adopted from England by women
during the course of the First World War (Watson,
1999:52). It is reported that this was due to the fact that
the Commissioner of Police in Cape Town, Colonel
Gray, supported the idea of policewomen to do patrol
work (Watson, 1999). In 1916, the first woman was
appointed in the position of 'Special Patrol. This
happened when the Cape Town Council agreed to
subsidise female employees, but, as a result of
criticism and objections about white women patrolling
Black and Coloured areas, the subsidy was revoked
(Watson, 1999). This author stated that this retraction
resulted in job applications from females wanting to join
the police force being rescinded.
In 1916, the Women's Christian Temperance Union
in Port Elizabeth tried to persuade the City Council to
reinstate their employment policy to employ
policewomen in the city (Watson, 1999). They were
however unsuccessful in their proposal. The general
consensus against women doing police work was that
females are deemed unfit for this kind of work because
of their gender and physique (Bezuidenhout & Theron,
2000:22). In this regard, attempts were made again in
1919 to re-introduce women to the police department
(Watson, 1999). This time, Watson (1999) reported that
women were expected to perform detective work in
Johannesburg in the field of immorality and child
prostitution. In 1910, Colonel Gray in Cape Town
police, who supported views on utilising women in the
police service, promised to put the matter before the
SAP Commissioner in Pretoria (Watson, 1999). In July
1929, however, the Justice Department stated that it
did not consider conditions in South Africa suitable for
the employment of women in the police service
(Watson, 1999). Even though white women won the
right to vote in 1931, their right to serve in the SAPS
took much longer.
Factors that Contribute to Women Participation in
the Police
There were several factors that contributed to
women participation in the police. These factors
included a shortage of manpower in the police and the
increase of crime (South African Police, 2002).
Moreover, organisations such as the National Women's
Council of South Africa and the National Council for
Child Welfare proposed that women be appointed as
Gender and Police Leadership
members of SAPS (South African Police, 2002). These
proposals resulted in the first serious changes being
implemented within the policing fraternity. The
proposals were followed by investigations in the late
sixties, with the aim of assessing the pros and cons of
initiating women into policing (Van Kessel, 2001). All
relevant departments of the SAP were asked for their
inputs; consequently, in 1971 Minister Lourens Muller
stated during the Police Budget Debate in Parliament
that women wanting to join the SAP would be
considered and that their appointment was nearly a
forgone conclusion (De Witt Dippenaar, 1988:428). The
Minister further stated that female employees would be
given specific tasks that involved women as the
accused or where women are involved as witnesses,
specifically in cases where women are the
complainants. Similarly, female employees would also
be involved with programs aimed at the youth (De Witt
Dippenaar, 1988: 428-429). However, despite these
good intentions to advance of women in the MPD’s, the
suggested improvements remained to be a perception
that women are deemed inferior to their male
counterparts. In police studies, scholars have
investigated
gender
differences,
barriers,
job
satisfaction, and discrimination. (Drew, Carless, &
Thompson, 2008; Kurtz, Linnemann, & Williams,
(2012); Somvadee & Morash, 2008). Marginalization is
also the biggest hindrance for the majority of the
female officers.
POLICIES PROTECTING WOMEN CIVIL RIGTHS IN
SOUTH AFRICA
It is important to reiterate that there are several
legislative framework empowering women or guiding
against gender inequality in the republic of South
Africa, such as paving the way for the establishment of
institutions and entities that are charged with the
responsibility of implementing the policies on gender
equality. Over the past two decades (1994-2017),
various pieces of legislation relating to gender equality
have been promulgated. This has been accompanied
by the establishment of various custodians of gender
equality; examples include the Commission for Gender
Equality (CGE) and the Ministry for Women, Children
and People Living with Disabilities. Public institutions,
parastatals and government entities are established on
the basis of legislation. Hence, the institutions and
entities responsible for the promotion of gender
equality had to be preceded by the proclamation of
relevant legislation. Section 8 of the Promotion of
Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act
(PEPUDA) indicates that women in police and women
International Journal of Criminology and Sociology, 2021, Vol. 10
1335
in leadership positions are protected against inequality
of access to opportunities within MPDs. The institutions
and entities that were established for this purpose
include the Commission for Gender Equality, Ministry
of Women in the presidency, as well as the National
Gender.
Women
are
increasingly
participating
in
employment in South Africa (Stats SA, 2015). It is
noted in the National Development Plan (NDP) that the
inclusion of women in the main streams every
spectrum of activities to be not only a catalyst to
poverty reduction and elimination of inequality in the
South African society but also in the realisation of the
2030 set targets (National Planning Commission,
2010).
PROBLEM STATEMENT
The Commission of Employment Equity in South
Africa reported that women comprise 44.8% of the
economically active population; however, males still
dominate senior management positions in South
African companies (Commission of Employment
Equity, 2017). According South African Employment
Equity Report (2017), women hold only 29.5% of toplevel management positions and 30.7% of senior
management
positions.
These
results
show
significantly lower statistics than the governmentmandated target of having 44.4% management
positions filled by women. Chung and Sahgal
(2007:351) argue that owing to the alleged lack of
career planning by women, in contrast to their male
counterparts, contributes to the poor advancement of
women to senior management positions. It is also
important to note that the value of organisational
practices influence the criteria for advancement. The
Employment Equity Act no. 55 of 1998 requires that
some organisations collect report and track the
representation of their designated groups, such as but
not limited to women, previously disadvantaged
groups, and people with disabilities at all occupational
levels, including senior management (Cilliers & Stone,
2005; Diversity Leads, 2012; Pandor, 2005).
Addressing gender inequalities is important, (Ernst &
Young Global Limited, (2011) argued that unequal
gender representation should be addressed in order for
the country to fully leverage its potential
The underrepresentation of women in leadership
positions in the MPD’s continues to be a matter of
some concern, particularly in a traditionally male
dominated industry such as law enforcement. Dean,
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International Journal of Criminology and Sociology, 2021, Vol. 10
Heather, & Henry, (2009) has revealed that women
continue to face challenges in advancing into
leadership positions. Role of women in leadership
positions were tested in the relationship between
managerial leadership styles and organizational
effectiveness. Significant resources and efforts have
however been devoted to the development of programs
that exclusively promote diversity and inclusion in the
workplace, but no such efforts exist that pertinently
encourages gender equality amongst MPD leaders.
Furthermore, when it comes to strategies concerning
the advancement of women in leadership positions, it is
difficult if not impossible to get hold of tangible results
or evidence of equal gender representation among
leaders’ operative within the MPD. There seems to be
substantial gaps this sector: MPD has not progressed
on diversity when compared with the South African
Police Service (SAPS) and the private sector that have
made serious inroads.
THEORITICAL PERSPECTIVE
Women and the Glass Ceiling
“Glass ceiling” is a concept from the 1980s
describing an invisible barrier that blocks the access of
women to the top – they can see where they want to
get to, they can see their male peers going through
(Singh, 2007). According to global trends of working
women, the issues of the role of women in
management and glass ceiling at work have been
increasingly discussed (Rishani, Mallah, Houssami &
Ismail, 2015). Inequalities between men and women
beside all activities and efforts cannot be eliminated.
Hoobler, Lemmon, & Wayne, (2016) is of an opinion
that the invisible barrier exists as a result of
discrimination of women in the workplace. Women and
men differ, both in terms of the jobs in which they work
and in their responsibilities, but over time, women’s
skills have become more similar to men’s. Women
have managed to break through the glass ceiling
through goal-setting, self-assertion and self-promotion
and directive communication, determination to
persevere and achieve goals, and the need to be
receptive to research and education that will advance a
woman’s career path (Baumgartner & Schneider,
2010).
Women empowerment entails a process of change
in which patriarchal relations are challenged so that
men’s traditional complimentary package of resources
and services provided to ensure that goals are met.
The United States Glass Ceiling Commission (1995) is
Dee Khosa
of the view that discrimination can be direct when
women are simply treated less favourably than men. Or
it may be due to a policy or practice that, although not
designed to discriminate, results in unequal treatment
between men and women. Both types of discrimination
are prohibited under organisation policies, but are
unfortunately still present in some workplaces. Arfken,
Bellar and Helms (2015:52) discusses the ‘glass
ceiling’ phenomenon; it highlights gender prejudice,
resulting in the exclusion of women from historically
male-dominated positions. Christofides, Polycarpou, &
Vrachimis, (2013:87) states that in theory, nothing
prevents women from rising as high as men. But in
practice there is invisible but real barrier through which
the next stage or level of advancement can be seen,
but cannot be reached by qualified and deserving
women. Glass ceiling is the specific type of gender
inequality, not suggesting that is more unjust or larger
than other types of inequality, just that is merely
different and that is why it deserves distinction from
other types of inequalities (Van der Berg, 2014).
The notion of gender equality is crucial for
enhancing women’s success. Equally promoting
advancement to leadership positions to all workers
regardless of gender can help the organization improve
its performance. Pathak and Purkayastha (2016) argue
that gender diversity management has a positive
impact on organizational performance because having
both male and female executives lead to better quality
discussions.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND DESIGN
This study adopted qualitative research approach,
which enables the understanding of the phenomenon
of gender inequality in the Metropolitan Departments
(MPD’s) in Gauteng Province of South Africa’.
Population
The
population
was
approximately
3121
metropolitan police officers who work in various
positions within the Metropolitan Police Departments
(MPDs) in Gauteng province, South Africa. These
police officers held positions such as executives,
management and ordinary employees.
Sampling
Purposive sample technique was used to select
senior and middle management officials from MPDs.
Purposeful sampling allows the researcher to select
people or events because they are interested, relevant
Gender and Police Leadership
and suitable for the research (Payne & Payne, 2015).
The duration of tenure, gender and position held in
MPD were participation criteria used. In this case, the
participants were 25 women who held their position for
at least 5 and more years. All participants were from
Gauteng province, in Ekurhuleni, Tshwane and
Johannesburg MPDs. Participant representation from
MPDs were as follows: 11 Tshwane, 9 Johannesburg
and 5 Ekurhuleni.
Data Collection Instrument
International Journal of Criminology and Sociology, 2021, Vol. 10
1337
differences exist between thematic analysis and
content analysis methods. The two methods are similar
in that they generate themes from transcripts and
interviews (Ryan & Bernard, 2000). The two methods
differ in that content analysis tends to quantify themes
more than thematic analysis; meaning that qualitative
data are often converted into numeric data or themes
are reported as frequencies (Ryan & Bernard, 2000).
TM
Coding in this study was conducted using Atlas.ti
software.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Individual interviews were used to collect data. The
interview responses were voice recorded. The aim of
using individual interviews was to gather in-depth,
qualitative data (Leedy & Ormrod, 2005) from
participants.
Ethics Issues
Ethics in research is a set of moral principles that
are suggested by an individual or group (Goldsmith &
Lewis, 2000:57). Ethics in research refers to what is
accepted or not acceptable when conducting a study
(Resnik, 2011). The study has obtained ethical
approval from the university’s ethics committee,
Ekurhuleni, Tshwane and Johannesburg MPDs.
Participants signed informed consent forms, in line with
ethics guide set by the University of South Africa code
of ethics (UNISA, 2016). Interviews were voluntary,
anonymity ensured, and no incentives provided.
Data Analyses
Henning, Van Rensburg, & Smit, (2004:127) state
that the aim of data analysis is to understand the
relationship between concepts, constructs or variables
as well as identify and classify whatever patterns might
emerge in order to create themes in the data. In
qualitative data analysis it is pointed out that data is
transcribe from various form of collected data such as
the transcribe data from interviews that are typed into
word processing document. This means that interview
questions asked to the participants were transcribed by
the researcher. The qualitative analysis was done with
the assistance from the professional qualitative data
analyst using Atlas.ti™.
This study used the thematic analysis method to
search for patterns that emerged from the interviews
conducted with the participants. Thematic analysis
entails assigning codes to patterned responses, and
the prevalence of a code across data creates a theme
(Saldana, s.a.; Ryan & Bernard, 2000). Similarities and
Representation of Women in Senior Leadership
Positions
With regards to representation of women in senior
leadership positions in MPDs, it is noted that various
reasons were found in this study that prevented women
to be in leadership position. Issues such as culture,
stereotype and physical fitness were reported. It may
be observed from the findings that culture had a
negative impact on the appointment of women in
leadership position. This is reported in literature
McDowell (2016) that most companies and industries
including the law enforcement industry before the
democratic era, the management positions were
occupied by males only. Another example to support
the statement above is the observation in rural
municipalities of South Africa where the chiefs, who are
perceived to be the custodians of culture, play a role in
leadership at the local government sphere (Khan,
Lootvoet & Mantzaris, 2006). The cultural dynamics in
MPDs had negative impact, because it deprives
women the opportunity to be in the leadership position.
It is noted from the findings that the problem with
recruiting women in leadership position is stereotype
with males in the work place. Men in MPD believed that
there are certain tasks they should perform that women
cannot perform. Kurtz, Linnemann and Williams, (2012)
argued that globally, the police career was regarded as
central to males, women were not allowed to
participate in the police force. As law enforcement is a
male-dominated
profession
gender
stereotypes
hamstring the professions ability to recruit and retain
talented women. Gossett and Williams (1998) argue
that women officers have made very slow progress
toward full integration in policing due to barriers such
as the attitudes of male officers. In contrast to this
belief, (Mello & Phago, 2007) argue that women are as
intelligent and competent as men. Therefore, with
change in time this stereotype has to come to an end,
the police work should not be viewed as the men’s job.
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International Journal of Criminology and Sociology, 2021, Vol. 10
Findings revealed that physical fitness is problem to
recruiting women in senior leadership position in MPDs
as it is one of the important factors. In this case, the
recruitment process becomes a challenge for women.
In this regard, Morash & Haar (1995) argue that male
officers are not eager to appoint women officers
because of the masculine-oriented police subculture.
(Dodge, Coie & Lynam, 2011) asserted that the
challenge of integrating women officers into the SWAT
sub-culture requires change in perceptions of the
overall culture that continued to endorse the values of
masculinity.
Advancement of Women
Findings shows that passion, hard work,
determination and education were the decision that
made the women to have eager to advance to senior
leadership position. About being passionate it was
found that women are passionate about the police
industry hence they saw a need to advance
themselves. With regard to education, it may be argued
that it is regarded as an important factor to advance
higher positions at workplace. Education was also
viewed as the best ingredients for success. This view is
supported in literature that in South Africa, education is
a means to women’s empowerment-(Convention on the
Elimination of
Discrimination
against
Women
(CEDAW), 1998). Even though Huhman (2016) argue
that female graduates are still under-represented,
particularly in more senior positions in higher education
institutions, but the number of women academics in
South African has also escalated, and that higher
education institutions has increased from 31% of the
workforce to 46.2%. It has been revealed that there are
reasons why women are not given opportunities or do
not apply for more senior positions in their workplaces,
including that they tend to underestimate their own
abilities to perform functions.
It was found in this study that various critical skills
crucial in MPDs for women to acquire in order to
advance to senior position. For example, management
skills and communications skills were found to be most
critical. In this case it was important for women to have
good communication skills in order to be recruited in
the senior leadership position. It may be observed from
the results that advice from other women in MPDs
assisted them to focus when they join MPD.
Lack of Effectiveness in Policies and Procedures
It was found in this study that various policies and
procedures are not implemented in the MPDs. This
Dee Khosa
means the MPD’s have the policies and procedures in
place but do not adhere to their own legislative
framework. In this regard, the MPDs should adopt the
Kohlberg's stage of moral development theoretical
framework (Lewis, Palacious & Valenzuela, 2016). The
aim should be to use the framework to assist in
understanding and practicing the rights, obligations,
duties and the importance of principles of conduct,
rules as well as formal standards of judgment to be
applied at work (Shields, Funk & Bredemeier, 2016 ). It
was found in this study that level 2 conventional level of
Kohlberg's stage of moral development emphasis on
conformity and stereotypical behaviour as well as
authority, rules, and social order which impacts on the
representation of women in work place as well as
leadership position in the MPDs.
The findings revealed that recruiting women into
senior management positions as problematic in MPDs.
In this regard, it was found that equity is not practiced
within MPDs. This is also stated by the United Nations
Millennium Development Goals, goal 3 to promote
gender equality and women empowerment (Ford,
2015; UNDP, 2015). South Africa battles to achieve
equality targets because of other socio-economic
affairs where women continue to have a higher rate of
unemployment than men. Schwanke (2013) supports
this argument and further indicates that women have
not yet achieved equity in mid-management positions
as it appears globally. It was also found in this study
that women in MPDs were treated unfairly and
discriminated against at work. In this regard, Section 8
of the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair
Discrimination Act (Act 4 of 2000) prohibits unfair
discrimination on the grounds of gender.
Strategies in Place to Advance Gender Diversity
The findings revealed that gender diversity and
equity should be included in the MPDs strategies in
order to fast-track the appointment of women in
leadership position. Also, Act 4 of 2000 of the
Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair
Discrimination Act states that women in police force
and women in leadership position are protected against
inequality of access and the opportunities that women
should be given within the MPD. Though the policy is in
place to address the equity in the work place, PercySmith (2000) argues that gender inequalities in nature
and multi-dimensionality cannot be reduced to some
single and universally agreed set of priorities.
It is noted from this study that MPD should provide
training and development for women as one of the
Gender and Police Leadership
strategies to advance gender diversity in leadership
within MPDs. In this instance, MPDs should create the
career path for growth by introducing empowerment
programme, workshops, training and seminars to build
trust among male and female colleagues towards
achievement of common goal. Findings from this
research indicates that the recruitment strategy should
be in place to balance the processes and procedures in
MPDs. In this regard, MPDs should advertise
leadership positions where women are given priority as
articulated in the equity act 55 of 1988.
RECOMMENDATIONS
It is crucial that the MPDs adopt level 2
conventional level of Kohlberg's stage of moral
development
in
order
to
have
knowledge,
understanding and practice the rights, obligations,
duties and the importance of principles of conduct,
rules as well as formal standards of judgment to be
applied at work. This will assist in the transformation on
conformity and stereotypical behaviour which impacts
on the representation of women in work place in
leadership position in the MPDs.
It is recommended that employment equity policies,
training and development be incorporated in the
strategies in MPD’s and empowerment of women be
practiced.
Another recommendation is mentorship and
coaching to empower women to overcome fear of
failure and rejection and learn that rejection and failure
can be used as an opportunity to learn. When one
learns from these experiences, it leverages strength
and help address some development areas.
It is recommended that women are empowered to
ensure that they are able to capitalize on the
opportunities that are available so that the cycle of
discrimination can be broken. When women are
empowered, they can advocate for themselves and
others.
It is crucial that the MPD’s in South Africa as a
whole to review their Human Resource practices and
policies to ensure that it is creating a positive and
constructive work environment for all employees. By
doing this, the Departments can stand a good chance
of attracting top talent as employers of choice who put
the aspirations of their employees ahead.
Other Law Enforcement officers that did not fall
within the scope of empirical survey can also use the
International Journal of Criminology and Sociology, 2021, Vol. 10
1339
findings to determine if they are adding any value to
efforts to diversify the general labour in the country as
a whole. In so doing, these departments can get closer
to reality that will indicate if transformation need to be
implemented in order to ensure that gender diversity is
achieved across all Metropolitan Police Departments in
South Africa.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
In conclusion, the new knowledge generated by this
paper entails that there is a need for mechanisms of
constructive feedback from managers to women in
order to address shortfalls that affect women’s
advancement to leadership positions. Leadership
development programmes must be tailored for women
advancing to leadership positions so that they are
coached or mentored on how to achieve employment
goals. The proposed women’s leadership development
programme should have the elements necessary to
tackle shortfalls in women’s capacity to advance to
leadership positions. The leadership development
programme should be open to both men and women in
order to address underlying ideologies or negative
mind-sets regarding female leadership. MPDs should
annually conduct research to identify barriers that
impede women’s advancement to leadership positions.
MPD’s should use the findings to design a leadership
development programme tailored for women in order to
address identified shortfalls, to resolve unequal gender
representation in positions. Leadership development
programmes tailored for women should be more than
just semi-skills development programmes; they should
incorporate all elements aligned to the concept of
leadership.
In conclusion, the inclusion, representation, and
participation of women into leadership positions should
not be an afterthoughts or add-ons but expected
considerations in policy design and implementation in
MPD’s should be adhered to. Finally, the MPD’s must
not shy away from developing and implementing
measures to militate against the development and
advancement of women.
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