Anna Zacharias reports on a new study of women police officers in Dubai and finds cultural expectations are both fulfilled and challenged by the subjects’ perceptions
Dubai’s police women are every bit as good as their male peers. So say Dubai’s female police officers, in a study published last month by the British Journal of Criminology.
The study, Self Efficacy Beliefs and Preferred Gender Role in Policing, examines women’s self-perceptions of their ability to perform as effectively as their male counterparts.
The surveys and analysis of 278 female police officers in Dubai was performed by Dr Mohammed Murad, of the Dubai Police, and Dr Doris Chu, a criminologist at Arkansas State University who worked as a senior police supervisor at the Taipei City Police Department in Taiwan. This work, funded by a Middle East Studies Grant from Arkansas State University, builds on Dr Chu’s previous studies on female officers’ self-perception from a cross-cultural perspective.
Women’s self-perception matters. Not only does it affect on-the-job performance and adaptations to change, positive self-perception creates greater participation.
Since the first batch of 17 women joined the Dubai Police in 1977, the number has increased to more than 1,400 female officers, who serve at all levels as patrol officers, VIP bodyguards, human trafficking investigators, dog handlers and forensic experts. Despite their rise through the ranks, women account for fewer than one in 10 of the force’s 15,000 qualified police personnel.
“As more women now join police forces in a number of the countries in the Middle East, such as the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, it is important to expand our understanding of women police’s perceptions about their roles in police work in this understudied region, so culturally and socially different from the west,” write the authors.
“Understanding how policewomen perceive their role and what assignments they prefer to have in policing is important, since these preferences may effect their job satisfaction, commitment and retention.”
Western models traditionally identify six linear stages of female integration into police enforcement, from entry and participation in gender-restricted roles to integration in diverse roles and the eventual balancing of gender in police work.
The Dubai study, like those conducted in Bahrain by Staci Strobl, an associate professor of criminal justice in New York who specialises in woman policing in the Gulf, suggests a more nuanced approach is better suited to the region. Female officers themselves do not always prefer a fully integrated role, often favouring gender-specific jobs where women handle female offenders and victims.
Integration need not be a zero-sum choice. “A hybrid model, featuring coexistence of gender integration and gender segregation, may more plausibly explain policewomen’s gender role orientation in a cultural setting like Dubai’s,” the study says.
The survey, conducted in November 2011, looks at three aspects: appropriateness (whether or not respondents considered police work an appropriate occupation for women), efficacy (whether women were as effective as men) and physical capability. Questions specific to patrol work were asked.
An additional section asked whether women should perform gender-specific roles. The study found high levels of female confidence unusual in male-dominated professions, with 76 per cent of respondents believing that a woman could perform as well as a man and 72 per cent believing that women are as capable as men in patrol work.
Out of all those who responded, three in five believe women can perform the same duties as male officers. However, four in five favour gender-specific roles, in which women police are assigned to handle women victims or women offenders and children. Those who have served for longer are more receptive than male officers to identical assignments and those with higher education are more favourable to non-gender restrictive assignments.
Women who work patrol or in criminal investigation are more likely to have positive appraisals of women in policing than those assigned to desk work and consider women physically capable to perform a variety of duties. “By witnessing their own capability at work, these women are more likely to embrace full gender integration and to accept the same assignment duties as men,” says the study.
The findings of this study cannot be generalised to rural areas of the Emirates or other parts of the Middle East. Indeed, women’s integration varies greatly from emirate to emirate. While female patrol work is well established in Dubai, there are no female patrol officers in Ras Al Khaimah.
The authors suggest future studies on male perceptions and in-depth interviews with women to understand positive and negative work experiences.
“In what circumstances, at what times have they felt excluded?” asks the study. “Such information can assist police administration in creating a woman-friendly environment for work, which would be likely to encourage more women to enter the field of law enforcement.”
Anna Zacharias is a features writer for The National.
azacharias@thenational.ae
Plan to boost public schools
A major shake-up of government-run schools was rolled out across the country in 2017. Known as the Emirati School Model, it placed more emphasis on maths and science while also adding practical skills to the curriculum.
It was accompanied by the promise of a Dh5 billion investment, over six years, to pay for state-of-the-art infrastructure improvements.
Aspects of the school model will be extended to international private schools, the education minister has previously suggested.
Recent developments have also included the introduction of moral education - which public and private schools both must teach - along with reform of the exams system and tougher teacher licensing requirements.
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Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
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What is Folia?
Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal's new plant-based menu will launch at Four Seasons hotels in Dubai this November. A desire to cater to people looking for clean, healthy meals beyond green salad is what inspired Prince Khaled and American celebrity chef Matthew Kenney to create Folia. The word means "from the leaves" in Latin, and the exclusive menu offers fine plant-based cuisine across Four Seasons properties in Los Angeles, Bahrain and, soon, Dubai.
Kenney specialises in vegan cuisine and is the founder of Plant Food Wine and 20 other restaurants worldwide. "I’ve always appreciated Matthew’s work," says the Saudi royal. "He has a singular culinary talent and his approach to plant-based dining is prescient and unrivalled. I was a fan of his long before we established our professional relationship."
Folia first launched at The Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills in July 2018. It is available at the poolside Cabana Restaurant and for in-room dining across the property, as well as in its private event space. The food is vibrant and colourful, full of fresh dishes such as the hearts of palm ceviche with California fruit, vegetables and edible flowers; green hearb tacos filled with roasted squash and king oyster barbacoa; and a savoury coconut cream pie with macadamia crust.
In March 2019, the Folia menu reached Gulf shores, as it was introduced at the Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay, where it is served at the Bay View Lounge. Next, on Tuesday, November 1 – also known as World Vegan Day – it will come to the UAE, to the Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach and the Four Seasons DIFC, both properties Prince Khaled has spent "considerable time at and love".
There are also plans to take Folia to several more locations throughout the Middle East and Europe.
While health-conscious diners will be attracted to the concept, Prince Khaled is careful to stress Folia is "not meant for a specific subset of customers. It is meant for everyone who wants a culinary experience without the negative impact that eating out so often comes with."
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Always use only regulated platforms
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Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
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Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
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