Women in police leadership: making rank as a marker of progress?

Though women remain underrepresented in police leadership across the globe, they have made some significant inroads in England and Wales. This chapter focuses attention on women in police leadership and critically interrogates the progress made by women, emphasising the fragility of such gains. It documents what we know about women's experiences in navigating and achieving a leadership role and reflects on some of the key challenges experienced in that journey. Set against a backdrop of global criticism over the composition and quality of police leadership, the chapter documents the wider call for an altogether different kind of police leader and emphasises women's leadership styles as being more closely aligned to the demands of twenty-first century policing. The chapter also considers the value of ‘direct entry’ as a recent initiative aimed at increasing diversity of thought in police leadership and emphasises its potential to disrupt the gendered nature of policing.