Abstract
Gender essentialism has been and still is a key organising principle in the HKP. Its content and expression has certainly broadened and diffused over the past 65 years, largely as a result of changes in the police organisation’s external environment. But gender essentialism, heterosexism and heterosexualism remain central to how the HKP organises its police officers and their work. We argue that the HKP as a gendered organisation has to be understood in terms of the nature of colonial policing and its relevance to the present day. The gender system is tenacious in the HKP because of its inherent systemic qualities and operations, as well as its elective affinity with policing. Policies aimed at narrowing gender differences (e.g. equal pay and arming of policewomen) do not result in real changes in how men and women are deployed and treated in police organisations. Given the tenacity of gender, a fundamental shift in the police organisation’s orientation needs to be in place before real changes can take place.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
In 2015 Hong Kong’s police to population ratio is 1:228, one of the highest in the world.
- 2.
Definition of policing by consent”https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/policing-by-consent/definition-of-policing-by-consent retrieved 30 March 2017.
- 3.
Both disturbances were imbued with strong anti-British sentiments and were believed to be politically motivated.
- 4.
The current oath for new recruits to the HKP is based on section 26 of the Police Force Ordinance and reads: “… I will well and faithfully serve the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region according to law as a police officer, that I will obey uphold and maintain the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, that I will execute the powers and duties of my office honestly, faithfully and diligently without fear of or favour to any person and with malice or ill-will toward none, and that I will obey without question all lawful orders of those set in authority over me.” Chapter 232, Police Force Ordinance, schedule 1, Laws of Hong Kong.
- 5.
The HKP prides itself on its achievements in numerous international rankings, such as the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report (Reliability of Police Services) where Hong Kong ranks 15th worldwide (see http://www.police.gov.hk/ppp_en/03_police_message/international_rankings.html retrieved 20 April 2017).
- 6.
“Ethics and Integrity in the Hong Kong Police Force” p. 6.http://www.police.gov.hk/info/doc/ethics&IntegrityPaper.pdf, retrieved 20 April 2017.
- 7.
Since 1997 the Hong Kong University Public Opinion Poll Programme has been conducting polls on the public’s satisfaction with the performance of the police. The net scores were 64.8 in the second half of 1997, and peaked at 78.5 during the first half of 2007, and dropped to an all-time low of 20.9 in the first half of 2015 (not long after the “Umbrella Movement” which lasted from September till December 2014); most recently the figure is 38.3 for the second half of 2016. https://www.hkupop.hku.hk/english/popexpress/hkpolice/halfyr/hkpolice_halfyr_chart.html; measures of customer satisfaction remains high, suggesting that users of police services and members of the public who have actually had contact with the police were generally satisfied (“Force fares well in customer satisfaction survey, eight out of ten respondents satisfied with police services” Off Beat #1053 December 9–December 22 2015).
- 8.
The Umbrella Movement lasted between September to December 2014, in which large areas in Admiralty, Causeway Bay and Mongkok were occupied by protestors for two and a half months. The movement was preceded by student protests against the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress’ decision on the methods in which the Chief Executive is to be elected.
- 9.
Between 8th and 9th February 2016, disturbance broke out in the district of Mongkok over the authorities’ treatment of illegal street food vendors, leading to the firing of two warning shots by a police officer. The disturbance escalated quickly and was described as a riot by the HKP.
- 10.
The latter has received condemnation from local and international civil society groups (e.g. “Hong Kong: Police officers must face justice for attack on protestor” (https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2014/10/hong-kong-police-officers-must-face-justice-attack-protester/, retrieved 20 April 2017)).
- 11.
Overall crime figures in 2015 decreased by 1.9% compared to 2014, and crime rate (number of crimes per 100,000 population) was at 910, a new low in the past 43 years. Violent cri me dropped 1.7% compared to the previous year, a new low since 1971. Robbery dropped by 27.8%, homicide down by 18.5%, domestic violence crimes down by 12.3%, and miscellaneous theft down 11% (“Overall law and order situation remains stable in 2015” Hong Kong Government Press Release, Government Information Services, 26th January 2016 http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201601/26/P201601261021.htm, retrieved 20 April 2017).
- 12.
“CP and SDG give briefings on SDs and SAP 2017–2018” Off Beat #1060 13 April 2016–26 April 2016.
- 13.
“Pepper balls and paintball guns: Hong Kong police test tear gas alternatives in wake of Mong Kok riot” South China Morning Post 28th July 2016. “Hong Kong police purchase 400 new tactical suits ahead of July visit of state leaders” South China Morning Post, 6 February 2017; “Handover 20th anniversary: police introduces mid-range rubber bullets to handle terrorism and riots” Ming Pao News 14th February 2017.
- 14.
“Force vision, common purpose and values”, Hong Kong Police (http://www.police.gov.hk/ppp_en/01_about_us/vm.html. retrieved 20 April 2017).
References
Alderden, M. A., & Ullman, S. E. (2012). Gender difference or indifference? Detective decision making in sexual assault cases. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 27(1), 3–22.
Chang, M. L. (2000). The evolution of sex segregation regimes. American Journal of Sociology, 105(6), 1658–1701.
Charles, M., & Grusky, D. B. (2004). Occupational ghettos: The worldwide segregation of women and men. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Cheung, W. K. S. (1997). The changing role of women police officers in the Royal Hong Kong Police during the past ten years. Unpublished dissertation, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Chu, D., & Sun, I. (2014). Reactive versus proactive attitudes toward domestic violence: A comparison of Taiwanese male and female police officers. Crime & Delinquency, 60(2), 216–237.
Cockcroft, T. (2012). Police culture: Themes and concepts. London: Routledge.
Cornell, D. (1996). Enabling paradoxes: Gender difference and systems theory. New Literary History, 27(2), 185–197.
Crank, J. P. (2013). Understanding police culture (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.
Crank, J. P. (2004). Understanding police culture. Cincinnati, OH: Anderson Publishing Co.
Crank, J. P., & Langworthy, R. (1992). An institutional perspective of policing. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 83, 338–363.
Hassell, K. D., Archbold, C. A., & Stichman, A. J. (2011). Comparing the workplace experiences of male and female police officers: Examining workplace problems, stress, job satisfaction and consideration of career change. International Journal of Police Science & Management, 13(1), 37–53.
Hautzinger, S. J. (2002). Criminalising male violence in Brazil’s women’s police stations: From flawed essentialism to imagined communities. Journal of Gender Studies, 11(3), 243–254.
Herbert, S. (2001). “Hard charger” or “station queen”: Policing and the masculinist state. Gender, Place & Culture, 8(1), 55–74.
Howe, R. H. (1978). Max Weber’s elective affinities: Sociology within the bounds of pure reasons. American Journal of Sociology, 84(2), 366–385.
Jiao, A. Y., & Silverman, E. B. (2006). Police practice in Hong Kong and New York: A comparative analysis. International Journal of Police Science & Management, 8(2), 104–118.
Luhmann, N. (1986). Love as passion. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Luhmann, N. (1995). Social systems. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Luhmann, N. (2000a). Art as a social system. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Luhmann, N. (2000b). The reality of the mass media. Cambridge: Polity.
Magnusson, E. (2000). Party-political rhetoric on gender equality in Sweden: The uses of uniformity and heterogeneity. NORA—Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research, 8, 78–92.
Martin, P. Y. (2005). Rape work: Victims, gender, and emotions in organizational and community context. New York, NY: Routledge.
Mastrofski, S., & Uchida, C. (1996). Transforming the police. In G. Hancock & P. Sharp (Eds.), Public policy: Crime and criminal justice (pp. 196–219). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
McKinnon, A. M. (2010). Elective affinities of the protestant ethic: Weber and the chemistry of capitalism. Sociological Theory, 28(1), 108–126.
Meyer, J. W., & Rowan, B. (1991). Institutionalized organizations: Formal structure as myth and ceremony. In W. W. Power & P. J. DiMaggio (Eds.), The new institutionalism in organisational analysis (pp. 41–62). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Moeller, H.-G. (2006). Luhmann explained: From souls to systems. Chicago: Open Court.
Rabe-Hemp, C. (2008). Survival in an “all boys club”: Policewomen and their fight for acceptance. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, 31(2), 251–270.
Rabe-Hemp, C. E., & Schuck, A. M. (2007). Violence against police officers: Are female officers at greater risk? Police Quarterly, 10(4), 411–428.
Reskin, B. F. (1988). Bringing the men back in: Sex differentiation and the devaluation of women’s work. Gender & Society, 2, 58–81.
Ridgeway, C. L. (1991). The social construction of status value: Gender and other nominal characteristics. Social Forces, 70, 368–386.
Ridgeway, C. L., & Correll, S. J. (2004). Unpacking the gender system: A theoretical perspective on cultural beliefs in social relations. Gender & Society, 18(4), 510–531.
Ridgeway, C. L., & Smith-Lovin, L. (1999). The gender system and interaction. Annual Review of Sociology, 25, 191–216.
Santos, C. M. (2004). En-gendering the police: Women’s police stations and feminism in São Paulo. Latin American Research Review, 39(3), 29–55.
Sinclair, G. (2006). At the end of the line, Colonial police forces and the imperial endgame, 1945–1980. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Sinclair, G. (2008, November). The ‘Irish’ policeman and the empire; influencing the policing of the British Empire-Commonwealth. Irish Historical Studies, xxxvii(142), 173–187.
Stets, J. E., & Burke, P. J. (1996). Gender, control and interaction. Social Psychology Quarterly, 59, 193–220.
Thompson, B. M., Kirk, A., & Brown, D. F. (2005). Work based support, emotional exhaustion, and spillover of work stress to the family environment: A study of policewomen. Stress & Health: Journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress., 21(3), 199–207.
Trevino, A. J. (2005). Parsons’s action-system requisite model and Weber’s elective affinity: A convergence of convenience. Journal of Classical Sociology, 5(3), 319–348.
Vanderstraeten, R. (2002). Parsons, Luhmann and the theorem of double contingency. Journal of Classical Sociology, 2(1), 77–92.
Weber, M. (1968a). Economy and Society. New York: Bedminster.
Weber, M. (1968b). The protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism. New York: Scribners.
Weinbach, C. (2013). Gendering Luhmann: The paradoxical simultaneity of gender equality and inequality. In A. La Cour & A. Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos (Eds.), Luhmann observed: Radical theoretical encounters (pp. 85–107). Houndmills; Basingstoke; Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
Westmarland, L. (2001). Gender and policing: Sex, power and police culture. Cullompton, Devon: Willan Publishing.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Chan, A.HN., Ho, L.KK. (2017). Conclusion. In: Women in the Hong Kong Police Force. Palgrave Advances in Criminology and Criminal Justice in Asia. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95281-6_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95281-6_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-95280-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-95281-6
eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)