ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses women's integration in the police in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. These Scandinavian countries are in the forefront of recruiting female police officers, and promoting gender equality has long been official policy in their police forces. At the same time, attrition and specialisation still appear to be gendered. Female recruits have a somewhat greater tendency to leave the force compared to their male colleagues, and men still make up the clear majority among police leaders. Horizontal specialisation is gendered, and even among the younger cohorts of police recruits there are many who believe that women and men are suited for different police tasks. There are also differences between the three Scandinavian countries. Variation in the level of integration of women in the police seems to follow the same pattern as we find on other measures of gender equality. All three of the Scandinavian countries fare relatively well, but Denmark lags behind Sweden and Norway. Finally, the chapter discusses possible drivers of the inclusion of females in the police, including public policy, civil society pressure, workforce needs and societal changes.
