See also: Impact of stress on the individual and on the organization

The price of doing business

OCTOBER 1999

Policies that work for an all-male organization don't when both sexes are involved. After 25 years, adjustments are still being made.

BY BRENDA ZANIN

Stringing all the equipment that a general duty officer needs onto one belt is enough of a challenge. But when you're an officer with a 56-centimetre waist and these items all spread in a row measure 71 cm, this is more than a problem — it's a safety hazard. So is the weight and bulk of handcuffs, batons, holsters, ammunition, flashlights, cans of pepper spray and more when your frame doesn't have much padding. Some RCMP members have the bruises to prove it.

Adapting RCMP kit and clothing to accommodate the proportions of female members is just one of the ways the Force has had to adjust to the presence of women among its ranks, according to Sgt Michelle Martin, women's issues advisor to the Force. Although uniform changes are fairly straightforward, in other areas there are difficult issues the RCMP must face.

"We can't put our heads in the sand," Martin says. "Our numbers are getting higher, and there are a lot of issues that have to be resolved." Martin is a member of several committees that are working on just that.

"Women have the right to have babies," Martin points out. Pregnancy affects women's bodies, their performance and their schedules — which in turn affects RCMP policy with regard to clothing, assignment of duties and leave. Pension and promotion are also areas that are touched by this reality.

The implications are not always immediately obvious, as Martin and other committee members are discovering. For example, in the written portion of the Performance Report for Promotion, members were required to report on two instances where they met core competencies within the last 24 months. "But if a member was on maternity leave during that time," Martin says, "they couldn't meet this requirement." Amendments have since been made to allow for this situation, Martin reports.

Managers must work with political pressures to raise the profile of women in the Force, but promotion and advancement are not necessarily automatic objectives for female members. "Many women are trying to balance shiftwork and motherhood," Martin points out. "Managers need to know that for many women, family has an important impact on career management and professional roles."

In western provinces, where so many recruits are transferred upon graduation from Depot, there is a high proportion of female members — and most of these are in their prime child-bearing years. This could present a serious challenge to a detachment commander who may suddenly discover that a portion of the detachment's workforce is limited to administrative duties due to pregnancy. "I can see their point of view," Martin admits, "when they say ?don't send us any more women.' But until the Force includes the cost of having women as police officers in the cost of policing contract provinces, women will bear the consequences. When detachments are short staffed, it prevents members from obtaining leave for courses or for other reasons. Then there's a backlash against women to the point that they're afraid to get pregnant. That's not right.

"It's not a matter of personal values or attitude on individual gender bias on anybody's part," she stresses, "it's a question of management deciding to manage this issue."

Job sharing — in which two people fulfil the requirements for a single full-time job — was an advance for the RCMP, particularly for female members, but it doesn't appear to be working all that well, Martin continues. The policy gives managers final say when a member applies for this arrangement. "Managers had a fear of setting precedents with this new policy, so it has been difficult for women to use it to advantage," she explains. "So they end up taking leave without pay, which disadvantages them again." Part-time work, another attractive option for many women with young children, is not yet available to regular members, Martin says.

Many other policies, such as those governing pensions and promotions, lack clarity with respect to women's concerns, Martin says, and these need work. "There are so many unanswered questions."

The issue of sexual harassment has faded in the minds of many as women have become more accepted in once-exclusively male roles throughout society. However, in a recent survey conducted very informally in one division, female members were asked if they had ever been harassed in their careers in the RCMP. "Eighty per cent said yes," Martin reports, "but only two per cent had reported it." Fear of repercussions appears to be the main reason for this. This cause of discomfort for women is present in every division, she continues, "and it can be a lot worse in a small detachment." In some cases it drives female members to the point where they consider resigning, even today, she adds. "This kind of comportment is not acceptable in any office."

“Many women are trying to balance shiftwork and motherhood. Managers need to know that for many women, family has an important impact on career management and professional roles.”

Women are still poorly represented in the senior ranks of the RCMP, compared to management positions in the military or business sectors, although the Force is actively working on this. When this situation improves, there will be positive repercussions for women throughout the Force, Martin predicts.

She also looks forward to a time when women — and other visible minority groups — are automatically included in group initiatives, and not tacked on at the last minute or forgotten completely. Martin says this often happens in the RCMP, although she stresses that there is no malice intended. "It's just that they forget. We all have strengths and weaknesses," she says. "We have to celebrate our diversity. But it takes a conscious effort to do that."