Rethinking Recruitment in Policing in Australia: Can the Continued Use of Masculinised Recruitment Tests and Pass Standards that Limit the Number of Women be Justified?

Abstract

Over the past couple of decades, Australian police organisations have sought to increase the numbers of women in sworn policing roles by strictly adhering to equal treatment of men and women in the recruitment process. Unfortunately this blind adherence to equal treatment in the recruitment processes may inadvertently disadvantage and limit women. In particular, the emphasis on masculine attributes in recruitment, as opposed to the ‘soft’ attributes of communication and conflict resolution skills, and the setting of the minimum pass standards according to average male performance, disproportionately disadvantages women and serves to unnecessarily limit the number of women in policing. This paper reviews studies undertaken by physiotherapists and a range of occupational experts to discuss the relevance of physical fitness and agility tests and the pass standards that are applied to these in policing. It is suggested that masculinised recruitment tests that pose an unnecessary barrier to women cannot be justified unless directly linked to the job that is to be undertaken. Utilising a policy development and review model, an analysis of the problem posed by physical testing that is unadjusted for gender, is applied. As a result, it is recommended that police organisations objectively review recruitment processes and requirements to identify and eliminate unnecessary barriers to women’s entry to policing. It is also recommended that where fitness and agility tests are deemed essential to the job, the pass level is adjusted for gender.