Challenges in the Police Gender and Development Initiatives

Explicitly outlined under Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5, the United Nations aims to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. Furthermore, it has enumerated initiatives to achieve gender equality in police forces. Guided by the UN call, member countries have instituted Gender and Development (GAD) programs within their police forces. In the Philippines, laws, such as Republic Act 9710 or the Magna Carta for Women, were enacted to enforce gender equality in the police force. Section 15 of the law stipulates the fair treatment of women in the police service. But despite these developments, gender issues are still evident in the police force. Hence, it is the objective of the study to determine the challenges encountered by the police force relative to GAD initiatives. The study adopted a qualitative research design, given the involvement of qualitative data and the absence of experimental manipulations. Thematic analysis served as the chosen method for data examination. The results reveal that budget constraints, involvement constraints, speaker competence, and GAD personnel continuity are the challenges experienced by police in their GAD initiatives. Hence, strategic resource management such as cultivating networks with other government and non-government agencies is necessary to address these issues and guarantee that GAD initiatives are focused and accommodating.