Disrupting the “Heroic” Male Within Policing: A Case of Direct Entry
| DOI | 10.1177/1557085118763737 |
| Author | Marisa Silvestri |
| Published date | 01 July 2018 |
| Date | 01 July 2018 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
research-article2018
Article
Feminist Criminology
2018, Vol. 13(3) 309 –328
Disrupting the “Heroic”
© The Author(s) 2018
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of Direct Entry
Marisa Silvestri1
Abstract
This article drives forward a more critical insight into the position of women within
policing. In focusing on women as police leaders, it problematizes taken for granted
representations of gender and proposes an alternative reading of their experiences.
Drawing on theoretical work on gendered organizations, the article argues that
greater attention needs to be paid to the cultural and structural conditions that
enable the “heroic male” to emerge as the “ideal” police leader. It also considers
the recent introduction of Direct Entry for senior officers in England and Wales as a
disruptive tool to the gendered order within policing.
Keywords
policing, women, leadership, Direct Entry, heroic male, gendered identities
Although the campaign for more women in policing in Britain spans well over a cen-
tury, there has been a significant drive over the past decade to increase women’s rep-
resentation within policing. Diversity agendas and initiatives, including a growth in
flexible working and mentoring schemes, have done much to reshape the working
practices of policing to encourage women’s increased participation and progression
(Silvestri, 2015). At the same time, a number of wider police reform agendas con-
cerned with bringing about greater professionalization and modernization are chal-
lenging established and entrenched ideas about policing and its workforce (Charman,
2017; Holdaway, 2017). With women currently forming 29% of the workforce and
23% of those in police leadership roles (Hargreaves, Husband, & Linehan, 2017),
there is much to be positive about as women are undeniably present and engaged in
1University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
Corresponding Author:
Marisa Silvestri, University of Kent, Cornwallis North East, Kent, Canterbury, CT2 7NF, UK.
Email: M.Silvestri@kent.ac.uk
310
Feminist Criminology 13(3)
policing. The appointment of Cressida Dick in April 2017 as the first female
Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police in its 180 year history is further testament to
the success of women in policing. Given this narrative of success, it is becoming
increasingly difficult to make the case that the police service is not doing enough in
relation to developing diversity, yet inequalities remain and policing and police leader-
ship remains the preserve of White men. This article goes some way toward making
sense of this paradox.
Against a backdrop of police reform, this article focuses on women in police lead-
ership and critically considers the recent introduction of Direct Entry in policing in
England and Wales. Hailed as an opportunity to bring about greater diversity within
leadership ranks, this organizational change represents a momentous and radical break
with the ideology of internal recruitment and the strictly “male” linear career model
that has dominated British policing since the 19th century. Through its focus on lead-
ership, the article departs from well-established scholarship on women and policing
which has for the most part been concerned with the rank and file. In doing so, it redi-
rects attention to an alternative site within which gendered power is located, per-
formed, perpetuated, and sustained and so develops a more complex reading of the
gendered nature of policing. Drawing on Acker’s (1990, 1992) theoretical work on
gendered organizations, I argue that greater attention needs to be paid to the ways in
which cultural and structural constructions of the “ideal” police leader are gendered.
In this way, the article both affirms and extends theoretical insight into the ways in
which organizations are gendered. Conceived of as someone who possesses an “intan-
gible presence” (Smith, 2016), I outline some of the ways in which the “ideal” police
leader is aligned to traditional conceptualizations of the “heroic male” through expres-
sions of doing time and demonstrations of strength, stamina, and endurance. More
particularly, I develop the idea of Direct Entry as a disruptive tool within the police
organization with considerable power to challenge entrenched beliefs about the “ideal”
police leader as male and the attendant gendered demonstrations of commitment, com-
petence, and credibility.
Made up of three parts, the article draws upon the discourse of organizational
change as a unifying and organizing principle to drive forward a more critical dis-
cussion about the position and potential of women within policing. It is guided by
Chan’s (1996) instructive call for police scholarship to be more open and receptive
to the idea of organizational change and is shaped by her fundamental argument that
we need to allow for both the possibility of and resistance to change. The first part
critically explores the narratives of success that have accompanied the changing
position of women within policing over time and within an international setting.
With a hugely positive public facing “success” story, it demonstrates the gains made
by women in carving out a career in policing. It also calls for considerable caution
in such readings and emphasizes the growing tendency for both academics and pol-
icy makers to uncritically accept the idea of organizational success. In calling for
caution, I provide a counter narrative to the dominant discourse of success and chal-
lenge the focus on the numeric as an indicator of progress. Closer analysis of work-
force data reveals a plateau in the representation of women police and, in some
Silvestri
311
cases, regression and loss (Silvestri, 2015). Beyond the numeric, research also con-
tinues to emphasize the discriminatory ways in which gender impacts on women
police. It is within such a paradoxical landscape that this article sits—the issue of
gender equality within policing is perhaps best described as complex and contradic-
tory. The second part problematizes the taken for granted understandings and repre-
sentations of gender within policing. With a growing global body of literature on
women police, contemporary theorizations across jurisdictions remain locked into
and inextricably bound up with analyses of the “cult of masculinity” (Fielding,
1994). Infused with ideas of crime fighting and associated physicality, the “cult of
masculinity” is demonstrative of the gender meanings, identity, and performances of
the lower ranks. In this article, I argue that while the “cult of masculinity” remains
an important construct for understanding the gendered experience of women and
men within policing, its explanatory power is not sufficient for understanding how
gender manifests itself and is present within leadership. Police leaders experience an
altogether different working environment with different gendered expectations and
organizational scripts that validate credibility, competence, and commitment in
assuming rank. As police organizations throughout Europe, the United States, and
Australia undergo considerable organizational restructuring through downsizing,
delayering, and increased civilianization (Burke & Mikkelsen, 2006; Loveday,
2008; Ramshaw, 2013), the third part focuses more closely on the changing nature
of the police career itself. Subject to a wide-ranging reform agenda striving toward
greater professionalism within its work and workforce, the past decade has seen the
development of a professionalization framework with a remit to increase workforce
diversity and raise standards in relation to training, education, leadership develop-
ment, skills, and qualifications (Bryant, Cockcroft, Tong, & Wood, 2014). This final
part explores Direct Entry as one aspect of the police reform agenda and reflects
upon the scheme’s potential to disrupt entrenched ideas about policing and to bring
about greater diversity within leadership ranks.
Women and Policing: Narratives of Success?
This first half of the 21st century has been characterized by much optimism in relation
to the representation of women working within the criminal justice system. The past
year alone has seen a number of gender victories for women’s representation and par-
ticipation in criminal justice work in the United Kingdom. At the time of writing, work-
ing alongside Commissioner Cressida Dick, women now preside over a number of key
positions in a range of law enforcement and related organizations: Chief Constable Sara
Thornton leads the National Police Chiefs Council, Dame Anne Owers sits as Chair of
the Independent Police Complaints Commission, Chief Constable Lynne Owens is the
Director General of the National Crime Agency, Alison Saunders is the Director of Public
Prosecutions, and Amber Rudd presides as Home Secretary. Indeed, there has never been
a time in which women have been so visibly present and engaged in the leadership and
administration of policing and criminal justice. Accompanying this numeric success story,
there has been a significant building of the equalities architecture within British policing,
312
Feminist Criminology 13(3)
with a broad range of diversity and equality policy initiatives aimed at improving the
representation of women, including increased opportunities...
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