INTRODUCTION

Gender sensitization can be defined as instilling a feeling of empathy in the mind of a person for
the opposite gender. The difference between sex and gender can be traced in various landmark
cases. Sex is a biological concept and is assigned by birth. On the other hand, gender is how
society regards a person i.e., how the community accepts the person. Violence against women is
increasing at an alarming rate and thus there is a need to protect the outspread of the crime. Not
only women, a person belonging to the LGBT community are also vulnerable victims of violence
and sexual harassment. Police play a crucial role in combating crimes and in an investigation of
offences, but what about the offences committed by the police? Or the ones committed under
their custody! Or their insensitive behaviour towards people? Hence, there is a need of
sensitizing the police personnel’s not only for the betterment of the victim but the accused as
well.

CONSTITUTION VALIDITY

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The Constitution of India provides for equality of status and opportunity to all citizens in the
country. The following provisions in the Constitution relate to gender equality:-

Article 14: Equality before law and equal protection of laws.

Article 15: Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of race, sex, etc.

Article 16: Equality of opportunity in the matters of public employment.

The following Directive Principles in the Constitution also specifically relate to gender equality:-

1. Article 39(a): That the citizens, men and women equally have the right to an adequate means
of

livelihood.

2. Article 39(d): That there is equal pay for equal work for both men and women.

Gender equality is necessary not only because of the Constitutional provisions but also to
unleash the

energy and productive capabilities of women. The Human Development Report published by the
UNDP

indicates that those countries which rank low in “Gender Related Development Index” (GDI)
also rank low in

overall human development (as mentioned by Human Development Index) and the status of the
country in

several other parameters. Some of these countries also report worst human poverty as measured
by “Human

Poverty Index”.

Besides the realization that development of women is necessary for the overall development of
the nation, the following factors have also been propelling countries tow ards attaining gender
equality:-

1. Increasing awareness among people, particularly in advanced countries, that gender roles are
social constructs and that women are capable of doing any type of job.

2. Increasing aw areness among women about their rights and their subjugation and exploitation
for centuries in male dominant and patriarchial societies.

3. Influence of feminist writings and efforts made by women’s organizations to bring to light
several discriminatory practices against women.

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4. Improvement in educational level of women which made them aw are of their relative status

vis-a-vis men.

5. Women joining all types of jobs and performing equally well and sometimes better than their
male counterparts

Gender equality is not only important because the Constitution lay so but also to unleash the
energy and productive capabilities of all the genders. The Human Development Report published
by the UNDP indicates that those countries which rank low in the "Gender-Related Development
Index" (GDI) also rank low in overall human development (as mentioned by Human
Development Index) and the status of the country in several other parameters.

Definitions

Gender-sensitive police reform is based on the premise that women’s and men’s socially
constructed roles, behaviours, social positions, access to power and resources create gender-
specific vulnerabilities or gendered insecurities. Some of the vulnerabilities may be particularly
salient during and after conflicts since sexual violence may have been used as a weapon of war
and may continue at high levels when the conflict is formally ended.

Gender analysis is therefore applied to police reform processes, ensuring that gender equality
principles are systematically integrated into and at all stages of its planning, design,
implementation and evaluation. Gender-sensitive police reform also addresses, for instance, how
the construction of gender identities shapes perceptions of security and police mandates.

Gender-sensitive police services aim to prevent and respond to the specific security needs of
women and men, boys and girls. Gender-sensitive police reform should also contribute towards
building police institutions that are non-discriminatory, reflective of the diversity of citizens and
accountable to the population at large. Police services would thus be better able to fulfill their
essential mandate of upholding the rule of law.

The UN’s commitment to supporting gender-sensitive police reform is based on the rationale that
a gender-sensitive police service can significantly enhance the security of citizens. This is
paramount for human development, human rights and peace: when police services are not
responsive to the different security needs of women and men, the threat of gender-based violence
is far greater, particularly in post-conflict situations, seriously undermining the rule of law and
post-conflict recovery efforts.

Women in countries emerging from conflict are entitled to respect for and protection of their
human right to gender equality. CEDAW and Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) together
provide powerful legal and normative authority worldwide for the requirement that police reform
incorporates all measures necessary to guarantee women their rights. The UN accordingly
recognizes the security sector as a duty bearer with\ responsibility to guarantee women’s

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physical security—both a right in itself and an essential pre-condition for women’s enjoyment
for all other right

NEED FOR GENDER SENSITIZATION

The need of gender sensitization arises in order to remove the prejudices and biases of police
officers towards women in general and women as victims as well as women colleagues in
particular and to develop in them the required professionalism (in terms of knowledge, skills, and
attitudes) for dealing with cases of violence against women more effectively. It is imperative that
all State police organizations undertake suitable initiatives, including organizing of training
programs to sensitize the police personnel at all levels. Such biases have serious consequences
for the morale of women. Justice meted out to them, entry of women into the police force, etc.

Increasing Violence Against Women

As more and more women in the country started asserting their rights, got educated and took up
jobs,

they increasingly became targets of attack. Crime against women in the country is on the
increase.

The following statistics published in ‘Crime in India-1998’ speak loudly about the alarming
picture of crime against women in the country.

One case of violence against women took place every 4 minutes in 1998.

One woman/girl was raped every 35 minutes in the same year. In 1995 there was one rape every
38 minutes.

Some unfortunate woman got molested every 17 minutes.

One dowry death took place every 75 minutes. In 1997 there was one dowry death every 87
minutes.

There was one instance of torture every 13 minutes.

If we take into consideration the instances of violence that do not get reported because of
illiteracy and ignorance of women and other social factors and also the amount of crime that does
not get registered in the police stations due to various reasons, the true picture of violence against
women would be more shocking. Response of police personnel to increasing violence to
increasing violence against In spite of the shocking and frightening picture, the police response

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to violence against women continues to be grossly inadequate and inappropriate. Besides the
reasons for the generally poor response to instances of crime such as increasing workload, lack
of resources, pressure of political bosses to maintain crime figures at a low level, mal-practices
in the organization, there are certain specific reasons for the lack of appropriate response to
offences against women. The cult of masculinity prevalent in the department makes the police
officers hold some stereotypes about violence against women. The stereotypes lead to certain
standard patterns of police response. For example, the following are some stereotypes held by the
police about sexual violence/harassment

How can it be done?

There is a palpable gender sensitivity deficit that occurs in the functions exercised by police in
India. There exists double jeopardy for women and they have to suffer because of these social
factors, and there is an urgent need that police officers discharge their duties in a gender-
sensitive manner.

To make police officers behave and act in a gender-sensitive manner in cases of violence against
women and in the discharge of their duties, there is an urgent need to conduct gender
sensitization training courses for police. At present, the concept of gender is misunderstood by a
vast majority of police officers. There is also a lack of proper awareness of the prevailing gender
inequalities among police officers.

Even if there is awareness, the cult of masculinity prevailing in the police organizations does not
easily permit a change in the attitude and behaviour of male police personnel toward women.

The stereotypes held by the police about sexual violence/harassment and domestic violence
(blaming the victim, etc.) indicate the general attitude of the police towards women.

EFFORTS TAKEN SO FAR TO SENSITIZE THE POLICE OFFICERS

In spite of the increasing cases of violence against women in the country and the inadequate
behavior of the police personnel in dealing with crimes against women, no systematic and
sustained efforts have so far been made by state police organizations or the central police force to
sensitize the police department in regard to various gender issues. Recently the anti-CAA
protests witnessed the irrational behavior of police towards the women, and the incident where
the girl students of the Jawaharlal University Campus faced violence by police shows the
inappropriate behavior of police, and there is a need for sensitizing them. There are few
measures that have been taken, but there is no appropriate law in this regard. For example, the
Delhi Police has made efforts to impart gender sensitization training to Inspectors/ Sub-
Inspectors with the help of the Gender Training Institute in New Delhi. The credit can be traced
back to Dr. Kiran Bedi, Joint Commissioner (Trg.), Delhi. Such training courses are also being

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organized for Inspectors/Sub-Inspectors in Maharashtra by the method of module development
on the basis of gender sensitization training. The module so developed are also used for
conducting gender training courses by various state Police. The Administrative Training
Institutes of the country have also conduct gender sensitization courses for multiple
organizations of the country. The National Police Academy also conducts a seminar on “Gender
Issues”. However, the reach of all these courses in terms of the number of police officers covered
has been very limited so far (less than 1% of the total strength of the police organizations).
Further, the training courses are limited only to officers of the rank of SI/Inspector and senior
officers in the police organizations. Systematic efforts have so far not been made in the state and
central police organizations to impart gender sensitization training to the constabulary, which
constitutes nearly 80% of the workforce

DEVELOPMENT

In early 2007, the Government of India sent over 100 highly trained women police officers to the
Republic of Liberia, as the first all-female United Nations (UN) peacekeeping contingent.
Reports suggest that their presence in Liberia is helping to bring Liberian women out, both to
register their complaints and to join the Liberian police service. The unit is making security
services more accessible to ordinary women in a country with high rates of gender-based
violence, including sexual violence.1 The contingent is a bold example of the UN’s broad
aspiration to implement gender-sensitive police reform in post-conflict States. Since then, and
given the positive impact of the Indian all-female Formed Police Unit in Liberia, this practice has
been replicated by other troop contributing countries in other missions.

In the last decade, women’s engagement in democratic governance, conflict resolution and
economic activity, which are key components of the sustainability of peace in post-conflict
contexts, has grown rapidly. Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) mandated UN Member
States to recognize this fact and ensure women’s participation in peace processes. However,
women face formidable constraints to effective engagement in public life after conflict, not least
because of the threat or the experience of gender-based violence. Women’s physical security is
therefore an essential prerequisite to their effective participation in peace building. The challenge
of making public and private life safe for women falls on many public institutions, among which
police services are central. With proper support, reformed police services can play a central role
in promoting women’s peace building work. Police recovery and reform are widely understood
to be among the mainstays of post-conflict recovery, as the effectiveness of all governance
processes derives from effective law enforcement.

However, a wide range of concerns must be addressed in post conflict efforts to re-establish the
rule of law, and in the past, women’s entitlement to security has often been an overlooked aspect
of the reform process. In addition to violating their human rights, the neglect of women’s

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security needs can compromise the inclusiveness and sustainability of peace building and efforts
to build democratic governance after conflict. As a contribution towards more effective, rights-
based and sustainable programming in this area, this briefing note reviews key components of
gender-sensitive police reform in post-conflict States

Need for police behave in the manner dealing with the gender sensitization

Because of the several social factors, women are more afraid of crimes than men and fear of
crime extends well beyond the women who have themselves been victims. Further, because of
several socio-economic factors, women victims are differently placed than their male
counterparts. In view of the above, there is need for police to act in a gender sensitive manner in
all cases relating to violence against women. The increase in violence against women calls for a
prompt and proper response from the police on all such complaints. As gatekeepers of the
criminal justice system, police enjoy wide discretion in enforcement of law. Differential law
enforcement, indifferent police response and fear of police deny women the access to justice.

Rationale gender sensitization training for police

In order to make police officers behave and act in a gender sensitive manner in cases of violence
against women and in the discharge of their duties in general, there is an urgent need to conduct
gender sensitization training courses for police. At present, the concept of gender is grossly
misunderstood by a large majority of police officers. There is also a lack of proper awareness of
the prevailing gender inequalities among police officers. Even if there is awareness, the cult of
masculinity prevailing in the police organizations does not easily permit a change in the attitude
and behaviour of male police personnel toward women. The stereotypes held by the police about
sexual violence/harassment and domestic violence, as described above, clearly indicate the
general attitude of police towards women. The following findings of a research study about the
opinion of male police personnel regarding the role of women colleagues also reflect the attitude
of a majority of police officers tow ards women and the lack of awareness about the concept of
gender:-

1. There is no need to integrate women into the mainstream of police.

2. W omen police personnel should be given specific tasks related to women and children.

3. W omen are not enthusiastic about their jobs.

4. W omen may work as cooks in the police mess.

5. W omen should escort only female prisoners and not male prisoners.

6. W omen should not be engaged in operations against militants, extremists and insurgents.

7. W omen police officers are very gentle and are not capable of handling hardened criminals.

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In order to remove the prejudices and biases of police officers towards women in general and
women victims as well as women colleagues in particular and to develop in them the required
professionalism (in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes) for dealing with cases of violence
against women more effectively, it is imperative that all State police organizations undertake
suitable initiatives, including organizing of training programmes to sensitize the police personnel
at all levels.

NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR WOMEN AND GENDER SENITIZATION

According to Dr Poonam Advani a member of women commission, After a long arduous

struggle by dedicated women activists and lengthy deliberations by Government
over a period of more than a decade and a half, under Act No 20 of 1990 passed by Parliament,
the Government was empowered to constitute a National Commission for Women. It took the
Government another two years to set up The National Commission for W omen which finally
came into being in 1992 . What was conceptualized by the activists and repeatedly stressed was
a Commission at the Center and others at the States level, with an autonomous status and over-
riding powers so as to enable them to act as watchdogs to monitor and ensure implementation of
laws and of government pronouncements or manifestos. The Commission as set up, although far
from being an autonomous body, has wide ranging powers, embracing protective, promotional
and advisory roles. In particular, the Commission has been empowered
to investigate all matters relating to the safeguards provided by the Constitution and other laws,
review the existing provisions of statutes, investigate cases of violation of existing provisions of
the Constitution of India and other laws relating to women and look into complaints and also
take suomoto cognizance of matters relating to deprivation of women’s rights and non-
implementation of laws meant for their protection and development, or non-compliance with
decisions aimed at their welfare, etc. One of the important roles of the
Commission is to make appropriate recommendations for effective implementation of existing
safeguards and also to move amendments to existing laws to make them more gender stringent.
For enabling the Commission to reach out to all types of distressed women, the Commission is
also authorized to inspect custodial and similar other institutions and to fund litigation involving
issues affecting a large body of women. These functions have enabled the Commission to
provide some respite to several suffering women by taking up procedural and legal issues with
the law enforcement agencies.

One of the important statutes to which amendments have been suggested by the Commission
are:- The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 (28 of 1961), the Medical Termination of Pregnancy
Act,1971 (34 of 1971), The Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation & Prevention of
Misuse)Act, 1994, The Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929 (19 of 1929), The Family Courts Act,
1984,The Indian Divorce Act, 1869 (4 of 1869), The Christian Marriage Act, 1872 (15 of 1872),
The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (25 of 1955), National Commission for W omen Act (20 of

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1990). Beside, the Commission has also mooted fresh legislation in some areas ,for example,
legislation concerning domestic violence and sexual harassment of women at work place.

Concerning the Police

Factually speaking, the only institution that is perceived as the State by the masses in rural areas
is the police station. But its functioning leaves a lot to be desired. In principle, priority is
supposed to be given to crimes against women, which are to be supervised by senior officers.
This norm, however, is not implemented in practice. There is an acute shortage of women in the
police force. As the participants pointed out, there were only 745 women police officers in the
whole of Punjab and they were not stationed at strategic points. There was need for more women
in the police force because women victims feel more confident in interacting with women
officials. In Madhya Pradesh also there were only two per cent female police officers. The police
officers themselves felt the need to have at least 10 per cent women in the police force. Each
police station could then have a cell with female staff to look after matters relating to crimes
against women. Another intrinsic problem within the police department, which is the main
anchor for gender related issues, seems to be that women constables are not used for effective
contribution and are considered more of a liability than a regular police resource. It was stated
that as most of them had been recruited on compassionate grounds due to the death of their
husbands while on duty, they do not come up to the mark and therefore even though the police
department is at present overburdened, work distribution is uneven. More than the issue of
numbers and work distribution, it was brought out again and again that then police, like any other
segment of society, had stereotyped, patriarchal values. Reportedly, when a woman victim enters
a police station, the usual comments she has to hear from the police officials are:

‘kitni bold mahila hai’,‘dekho thana me chali ayee hai’. When the victim speaks about
harassment by the husband which compelled her to approach law enforcement agencies, the
insensitivity of the police officers leads to further lewd comments on her, blaming her for the
evils. The police take no time in throwing her out of the police station.

Leaving aside,for the present, the women victims of atrocities and their reported ill treatment by
the police, it was stated that even women in police services are looked down upon by the male
colleagues and treated at best as individuals with secondary status. One lady police officer
explained this with an example: when there is an important event, women officers are allotted
reception duties and not given important assignments. That being so, even the talented clever
lady officer develops a feeling of inferiority as against job satisfaction for which she pines. In
utter frustration makes her feel that it would have been better if she had been a receptionist
instead of being a police officer. She would at least have had job satisfaction. Talking of attitudes
vis- a- vis the victims of gender crimes, some of the typical behavioral patterns of investigating
officers as described were as follows:- Insensitivity to women complainants; reluctance to
register cases of the nature of ‘family quarrel; registration of cases under section of law inviting
lesser punishment; viewing cases of premarital pregnancies as the sole responsibility of women;

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ignoring instances of eve teasing as due to the ‘dressing style’ of women; attitude of branding a
rape victim as ‘of loose moral character’; dismissing dowry-related torture cases as matters of
‘quarrelsome women’, blaming child sexual abuse cases as caused by failure of the mother in
bringing up the child; very liberal attitude in dealing with bigamy cases.

CONCLUSION

Gender sensitizing is about changing the behaviour and instilling the empathy into the views that
one hold about the two sexes. It helps people in examining their personal attitudes and beliefs
and questioning the realities they thought they know. There is a difference between sex and
gender. Unlike sex which is a biological concept, gender is a social construction consisting of the
socially acceptable and prescribed roles that men and women are supposed to follow. Violence
against women has emerged as a major concern for law enforcement agencies all over the world.
The level of violence that women encounter in societies is unfathomable. Rape and sexual
offences need special attention from the police as a woman would come to them only as a last
resort, when all other options were exhausted. Inequality prevails in our society as to how
women face oppression and inequality from womb to tomb. The Justice department, police civil
society and UN agencies have been busy in combating violence against women. Police personnel
need to be empathetic to her. Police are often criticized for their insensitive approach towards the
victims of sexual assault/ domestic violence. Police personnel to be taught on gender
sensitization. Gender sensitizing programs have been held by Govt. With an objective of training
to sensitize the participants on gender issues and encourage them to address issues and encourage
them to address issues and complaints with a gender sensitive perspective.

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BIOBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS

 Pakes Francis, Comparative Criminal Justice, Taylor & Francis Ltd, 4th Edition (2012)

 Paranjape, N.V., Criminology and Penology, Central Law Publications, 18th Edition

(2019).

WEBSITES

i) https\\ new.nic. course.gender senitization.in

ii) www.academia.edu.in
iii) www. legalsevices.in

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