Journal article
Comparing high and low outcomes on gender equity in recruitment in England and Wales: a scoping study
Policing, Vol.20, pp.1-14
2026
Abstract
Gender equity in policing remains a critical issue. The current scoping study is a case study analysis of England and Wales police forces. It focuses on recruitment as a measure of the extent and quality of women’s involvement in policing. The study involved analyses of workforce composition data from 2015 to 2024. These data were supplemented by further review of publicly available recruitment and agency materials. The findings indicated there was a significant difference in female representation among sworn officers between forces, and a significant correlation between female recruitment and female representation among sworn officers. However, there were no consistent differences evident in the approaches to increasing female recruitment between forces included in this study. These findings contribute to a broader understanding of gender equity in policing and provide a foundation for future research into the link between recruitment efforts and female representation in policing to inform effective gender equity strategies.
Details
- Title
- Comparing high and low outcomes on gender equity in recruitment in England and Wales: a scoping study
- Authors
- Stephanie Price (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine CoastTim Prenzler - University of the Sunshine CoastJacqueline M Drew - Griffith University
- Publication details
- Policing, Vol.20, pp.1-14
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press
- Date published
- 2026
- DOI
- 10.1093/police/paag020
- ISSN
- 1752-4520
- Copyright note
- © The Author(s) 2026. Published by Oxford University Press. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Law and Society; Sexual Violence Research and Prevention Unit
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991230228102621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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