The number of women police personnel in Punjab police is reflective of a massive gender imbalance as only two percent of the police deployed in Punjab are women.
Currently, the strength of Punjab police is around 205,000, with only 4,500 in the force being women. The ratio of women to men among the police is poles apart from the ratio of women to men in the population of the province of Punjab; more than 40 percent of the population consists of women.
According to a report in Express Tribune, for every 12,200 women in the province, there is one female police official. Moreover, of the 350,000 cases registered in the province of Punjab, about 60 percent have at least one male suspect.
This is an indication of the fact that the number of woman police officers is insufficient to investigate cases involving women and carry out arrests of women suspects.
Frequently, this results in problems for police as they do not have female personnel to raid houses and police is often seen as violating the sanctity of female residents.
Punjab Welfare Deputy Inspector General Shariq Kamal told media that there was a shortage of female police personnel in Punjab, and it was impossible to set up a separate police station in every district.
He added that to solve the matter, a district police officer, a female SP, a female ASP or at least a female police inspector should be deployed. This, he stated, would help the women complainants who come to the police station to lodge complaints.
DIG Kamal also added that Punjab Police also lacks female police personnel for security duty which was evident in the low number of female police constables deployed during Muharram.
Currently, the strength of Punjab police is around 205,000, with only 4,500 in the force being women. The ratio of women to men among the police is poles apart from the ratio of women to men in the population of the province of Punjab; more than 40 percent of the population consists of women.
According to a report in Express Tribune, for every 12,200 women in the province, there is one female police official. Moreover, of the 350,000 cases registered in the province of Punjab, about 60 percent have at least one male suspect.
This is an indication of the fact that the number of woman police officers is insufficient to investigate cases involving women and carry out arrests of women suspects.
Frequently, this results in problems for police as they do not have female personnel to raid houses and police is often seen as violating the sanctity of female residents.
Punjab Welfare Deputy Inspector General Shariq Kamal told media that there was a shortage of female police personnel in Punjab, and it was impossible to set up a separate police station in every district.
He added that to solve the matter, a district police officer, a female SP, a female ASP or at least a female police inspector should be deployed. This, he stated, would help the women complainants who come to the police station to lodge complaints.
DIG Kamal also added that Punjab Police also lacks female police personnel for security duty which was evident in the low number of female police constables deployed during Muharram.