Women in the Hong Kong Police Force: Organizational Culture, Gender and Colonial Policing (Palgrave Advances in Criminology and Criminal Justice in Asia)

This book examines the development of women in the Hong Kong Police Force (HKP) over the past 68 years, beginning from the early colonial years when calls to include women in law enforcement first emerged, to the recruitment of the first female sub-inspector in 1949, and through to the current situation where policewomen constitute 15% of the total HKP establishment. What accounts for these developments and what do they tell us about organisational culture, gender and colonial policing? This interdisciplinary work is relevant to fields including women's studies, gender studies, policing studies, criminology, colonial history, sociology, and organisational studies, and will appeal to academics, students and lay readers interested in the development of women in policing.-- Provided by publisher Acknowledgements 6 Contents 7 Abbreviations 8 List of Tables 10 1: Introduction 11 Broad Trends of Women in Policing: Steady Expansion and Persistent Problems 14 Problems Faced by Policewomen 16 The Worldwide Expansion of Women in Policing 18 The Hong Kong Context 19 Can Women Do Police Work? 20 Why Have Women’s Roles in Policing Expanded? 25 Organisational Culture, Gender, and Colonial Policing 26 Gender Essentialism and the Elective Affinity Between Police Organisational Culture(s) and Masculinity 27 Gender in Organisations and Responses to Change 32 Family Gender Roles and Policewomen 36 Heterosexism and Heterosexualism 37 Overview of the Chapters 39 References 41 2: The Early Years 49 Early Policewomen in the West 49 Early Policewomen in China and Taiwan 54 The Hong Kong Colonial Context: The Prelude to Policewomen 56 Female Searchers and Their Changing Functions 58 Mui-Tsai Inspectors 61 Lobbying from the Hong Kong Council of Women 63 From Sex Segregation to the Feminine Advantage: Changing Rationale Behind Policewomen’s Roles 65 Recruiting the First Policewomen 66 Specialisation: Doing What Male Police Cannot Do 67 Early Recruitment Requirements 71 Policewomen’s Training in the Early Years 72 Doing “What Men Cannot Do” 75 Conclusion 78 References 81 3: Integration and Equal Pay: Equal but Not the Same 83 Expansion of Women’s Police: Trends and Social Context 85 The Context for Expansion and Integration: Increase in the Demand for Women Police 86 Rapid Population Growth as a Result of the Influx of Migrants from Mainland China 86 Changing Policing Orientation 88 The Beginning of the Influx of Vietnamese Boatpeople 88 Economic Development and the Anti-corruption Campaign Led to Shortage of Personnel 89 A Two-pronged Contemporaneous Reorganisation of Police Work: From Non-­Police Work to Police Work, from Police Work to Sex-Typed Police Work 91 Expansion of Women Police Establishment and Integration 93 Change in Discourse: “As Good as Men”, Equal but Different 94 The Campaign for Equal Pay Between the Sexes in the Civil Service 95 The Road to Integration: Painting a Rosy Picture 98 “Equality” Between Policemen and Policewomen in Official Discourse 99 Expanding the Repertoire of the Feminine Advantage 102 Fairer Not Weaker: Fighting Real Crime 104 Expansion of the Women’s Police Establishment 106 Policewomen as Normal Women 108 Justifying Policewomen’s Presence in the Rural Areas 110 Policewomen as the Face of Public Relations and Symbols of a Progressive Police Force 113 Policewomen to Release Policemen: The Gendered Reorganisation of Police Tasks 115 Looking Back after Completion of the Equal Pay Transition 117 The Official View on the Role of Women Police—Requesting Extra (Wo)Manpower 120 Problems Arising from Expansion of Women Police 125 Imbalance of Women Police Amongst Different Districts and Sub-Districts 125 Policewomen with Family Roles 130 Differential Treatment: Deployment Problems That Were Created by Gendered Policies 132 Recruitment Quotas and Priority of Sex-Typed Tasks 134 Conclusion 135 References 142 4: Continuity and Change Through the 1980s and 1990s 143 Overview of the Hong Kong Policing Context in the 1980s and 1990s 143 Political Uncertainty about Hong Kong’s Future 146 Surge in Violent Crime During the Early 1990s 147 Economic Boom, Manpower Shortage and Localisation Policy in the 1990s 147 Vietnamese Boat People in the 1975—1990s 148 Senior Policewomen: Equal but Different (With a Subtle Twist) 149 Felicia Wong Leung Kam Shan, First Female Assistant Commissioner of Police (Also Wife and Mother) 149 Being a Policewoman Is Separate from Being a Wife and Mother (But Not Really) 150 Tweaking the Equal but Different Discourse: Equal in Value, Not in Kind 151 Women in the Marine Division: Challenging Gendered Deployment Principles? 155 Female Drivers and Physical Training Instructors: Challenging Gender Essentialism? 160 Women as Instructors in Physically Demanding Training: Competent but Slow 163 Policewomen Continue as Specialists in Feminine Roles 164 Housekeeper and Sex Crime Specialists 165 The Arming of Policewomen: The Background 166 The Sex Discrimination Ordinance 167 Demand for Anti-riot Training: Pre-1995 170 Asymmetry in Training and Women’s Roles in Internal Security Situations: Pre-1995 172 Force Expansion and Shortage of Manpower During the Late 1980s and Early 1990s 180 The Return of Sovereignty to China in 1997: Localisation and Recruitment Shortfall 181 Vietnamese Boat People and the Demand for Policewomen 186 Surge in Violent Crime in the Early 1990s 188 The 1989 Review of Women Police Establishment: Expanding the Proportion of Women Police Strength 189 Promotion for Male and Female Officers 194 Arming Policewomen: The Final Bastion of Integration? 196 Women with Guns: A Subtle Change in Official Discourse 199 Conclusion 205 References 211 5: New Millennium, New Direction? 213 Equal Opportunities Legislation 214 Policewomen at the Top 217 Work Life Balance and Healthy Lifestyles—Do Not Neglect Your Families 220 Feminine Qualities Celebrated 224 How Women Police Succeed 226 Doing Masculine Work 229 Fit Women 233 Women in Internal Security Operations 235 Old Bottle, New Wine: Domestic Violence and Child Protection 239 Dealing with Sexual Impropriety 243 Policing Commercial Sex—Women and Men in Decoy Operations 245 Conclusion 248 References 256 6: Conclusion 257 Gender Essentialism in the HKP: Heterosexualism as Genesis 258 The Diffusion of Gender Essentialism and the Broadening of Its Content 260 The Challenges of Equal Pay and the Arming of Policewomen 261 HKP as a Gendered Organisation 264 Colonial Policing: Then and Now 265 The Tenacity of Gender in the Hong Kong Police: Gender as a Social System and the Affinity Between Masculinity and Policing 269 Gender as a Social System 271 The Affinity Between the Gender System and Policing 275 Looking to the Future 278 References 283 References 286 Index 302 Front Matter ....Pages i-xi Introduction (Annie Hau-Nung Chan, Lawrence Ka-Ki Ho)....Pages 1-38 The Early Years (Annie Hau-Nung Chan, Lawrence Ka-Ki Ho)....Pages 39-72 Integration and Equal Pay: Equal but Not the Same (Annie Hau-Nung Chan, Lawrence Ka-Ki Ho)....Pages 73-132 Continuity and Change Through the 1980s and 1990s (Annie Hau-Nung Chan, Lawrence Ka-Ki Ho)....Pages 133-202 New Millennium, New Direction? (Annie Hau-Nung Chan, Lawrence Ka-Ki Ho)....Pages 203-246 Conclusion (Annie Hau-Nung Chan, Lawrence Ka-Ki Ho)....Pages 247-275 Back Matter ....Pages 277-298