Hyderabad: Women less keen on joining police force

Hyderabad: Among the seven lakh applications received by the Telangana police this year only 17 per cent are from women. Senior officials say that the number of women applicants is higher this year compared to previous years as 33 per cent of the jobs are reserved for women.

However, the existence of men only posts is one of the reasons for the number of women applicants to be less compared to that of men. In the Telangana Special Police (TSSP), Special Protection Force (SPF) and the Police Transport Organisation women are not being recruited this year. Some posts of constables and SIs are reserved for men.

Around 22,000 women have applied for sub-inspector posts and over 83,000 for constable posts while the number of male applicants for these posts are 1,40,000 and 4.6 lakh respectively.

"Compared to earlier recruitment drives the number of women applicants is high this year. The fact that over a lakh women have applied for the posts is a significant improvement," said Telangana State Level Police Recruitment Board (TSLPRB) Chairman Dr Purnachandra Rao.

At present, the number of women holding the ranks of Circle Inspector (CI) rank and Sub Inspector (SI) is very less. Data says there are only 18 women CIs and just 31 women SIs in Telangana police now. The posts of 94 women SIs have remained unfilled after the formation of the state.  Though there are women SIs waiting for promotion and there are at least 14 vacancies of CI posts none has been promoted so far.

Women CIs and SIs are given insignificant posts in the department. No police station in the capital city or other cities in the state have a woman CI except in women only police stations. Generally, women cops are not give investigation responsibility except in cases of marital disputes, sources said.
Officials admitted that the police department had to improve its infrastructure and make it women friendly.