Reimagining Gendered Police Reform: An Ethnographic Study of Gendered Institutional Change and Intersectional Reform in a UK Police Force

• In Event: Gendered victimisation

Abstract

Policing is a profoundly masculinized institution with entrenched gendered substructures and narratives (Silvestri, 2013; Kurtz, 2019). As a historically change-resistant context where misogyny, sexism, and other structural harms persist, reform efforts centered on female representation and anti-bias training have been critiqued for their limited conceptual depth (Woods, 2021). Feminist institutionalists and queer criminologists argue that meaningful change may require addressing hierarchical structures, institutional silences (e.g., on gendered violence, emotional labor, or accountability) (Presser, 2022), and binary gender assumptions (Valcore et al, 2021) that sustain exclusionary practices and restrict relational and emotional transformation within police organizations. This ethnographic instrumental case study examines a UK police force identified in an earlier exploratory study as a site of gendered institution-led cultural change engaging with deeper structural and conceptual reforms. It employs semi-structured interviews across ranks, participant observation, and analysis of organizational records to explore: What institutional features define this police force’s gendered cultural change initiatives? How do these strategies confront structural and intersectional gendered hierarchies, and what barriers emerge in translating reform commitments into systemic change? A dialogical narrative approach examines how officers interpret and enact these initiatives, while workforce data and institutional documents provide insight into organizational transformation. Preliminary f indings suggest an evolving institutional strategy that positions misogyny, sexism, and violence against women and girls (VAWG) as core reform priorities and actively embeds intersectional inclusivity as an organizing principle of reform. Given policing’s frequent preference for practitioner-led knowledge over academic interventions, studying reform efforts in the field is critical to understanding how change is conceptualized and enacted. This research contributes to debates on gendered police reform, organizational learning, and the role of conceptual depth in addressing structural gendered violence.

Author

• Tanyanne Ball, John Jay College of Criminal Justice/CUNY Graduate Center, New York