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.
Price et al. (Thu,) studied this question.