ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on a survey of police agencies in Australia regarding key indicators of gender equity. The survey was designed to identify the nature of change in the last decade and to test the capacity of senior management to evaluate performance. In 1997, progress in application of the problem oriented model was tested in terms of policy development in a review of police equal employment opportunity management plans. The chapter addresses the status of women in Australia policing in terms of aggregate level data. It suggests that police agencies are not collecting sufficient information to properly assess issues of gender equity across all aspects of a police career. Progress differed markedly between jurisdictions. The fragmented nature of the data meant it was difficult to form a national picture of the status of women in Australian policing or to make inter-jurisdictional comparisons beyond the basic elements of recruitment and numbers of sworn officers.
