New Zealand’s Policing Efforts in the Pacific: Gender Programs,Practices,and Performances

Masculinities

Since the 1970s, women’s relationships with—and in—development have received enormous theoretical, policy, and practice critique. Subsequently, a shift has occurred in rhetoric, from including women, to focusing on social constructions of gender, gender analysis of power relations, and women’s inclusion and exclusion in development. Criticism of the way men are typically assumed to be “the problem,” “the oppressor,” and “the obstacle” to women’s development has also given rise to a body of literature focused on the role of “masculinities in development” (MAD; Cleaver, 2002; Cornwall, 1997; Sweetman, 2013).

MAD advocates highlighted that development and humanitarian initiatives which focus on women as individuals are limited if the broader systems and structures that shape both men’s and women’s lives, perpetuating women’s disadvantage and inequality, remain unchallenged. Development projects which looked to include women were also heavily criticized for adding further to women’s triple burden ¹ (Cleaver, 2002). Side-lining or overlooking men meant an increased risk of aggrieving men who then could potentially undermine development projects which targeted women, further affecting women’s position and gender relations. Men’s buy-in was considered fundamental to women making any development gains, particularly as men played a definitive role in reinforcing discriminatory and exclusionary gender norms and cultural values (Cleaver, 2002). Thus, if men continued to be absent and women continued to be targeted in isolation from men, issues of gender inequity and disempowerment would remain unaddressed (Cornwall, 1997; Sweetman, 2013). Yet “not all men have power and not all of those who have power are men” (Cornwall, 1997, p. 11). This focus on masculinities and engaging men and boys therefore recognizes men’s long history in gender and feminist struggles and the various ways men are also advocates, allies, and campaigners for gender equality.

There exists a growing body of literature that discusses men and different forms of masculinities available in other security-focused contexts. This includes, for example, Aaron Belkin’s (2012) groundbreaking work on the range of military masculinities, and the emergence of other forms of masculine performance such as “peacekeeping masculinities” (Duncanson, 2009), or Paul Higate’s (2012) work on private security actors and masculinities. However, the broader idea of men as active allies and advocates of gender equality, with caring masculinities constituting a critical form of men’s engagement and involvement in gender equality, is of most interest here. ² In conceptualizing caring masculinities, Elliot (2016) argues it to be those masculine identities that reject domination and its associated traits and embrace values of care such as positive emotion, interdependence, and relationality; thus, it offers a strong counterpoint to hegemonic masculinity. Elliot (2016) also emphasizes the relevance of the “practice based” aspects of caring masculinities. This refers to men’s actual practices of care work, which, she suggests, have the potential to actively change men and thereby also affect overall gender relations. Notably, too, this concept of “care” has the potential to move us away from the dominant, and—as feminist international relations authors point out (see Stiehm, 1982; Tickner, 1992; Wadley, 2010)—highly problematic emphasis on masculinity as involving men alone being able to enact the role of “protector.” In this case, then, it is particularly useful to reconceptualize the function of policing as a form of care as well as a form of security.

Gender and Policing: A Focus on Women

Security institutions have traditionally been bastions of hegemonic or hyper-masculinities which reward aggression and valorize a form of warrior identity (Duncanson & Woodward, 2016; Martin & Jurik, 2007). With the push to mainstreaming gender, these hegemonic masculinities have increasingly been challenged, and attention has turned, in particular, to the positive contribution women can make in transforming security institutions and their practices (see the contributions to Davies & True, 2018; as well as Kirby & Shepherd, 2016). There has been a focus on increasing the participation of women in roles of authority, including a push to increase the number of women employed in national police services as well as emphasizing the need to promote women to senior levels and to deploy women in offshore roles (United Nations Police, n.d.).

Since the passing of UNSCR1325 in 2000, progress has indeed been made in increasing women’s participation in the policing sector across the globe. For example, a study in 2013 showed a steady rate of increase of 1% per annum in England and Wales and relatively high rates of female participation in Global South countries such as Ghana (19.7%) and Fiji (20%) (Prenzler & Sinclair, 2013). More recent studies show that rates have increased even further, with some countries reporting participation rates of up to 50% and a commitment to equal recruitment of men and women (Rabe-Hemp & Garcia, 2019; Solomon Star Editor, 2017).

Despite what on the surface looks like progress through the implementation of a range of policing programs, policing practices have not always altered to promote feminist values, and institutional biases which favor male officers typically remain. Strong cultural and religious influences can at times play into this and result in discriminatory practices and views such as virginity testing of female recruits in Indonesia; the confinement of female officers to women’s spaces, such as office work and community relations in Brazil; and negative attitudes toward part-time officers in Australia, the majority of whom were women (Andrade Gripp & Zaluar, 2017; Rabe-Hemp & Garcia, 2019). These hegemonic masculinities and cultural norms are all-pervasive and often internalized by women themselves. It is not surprising, then, that a study in India which revealed widespread negative perceptions of women in the police force also reported that female officers preferred to occupy “traditional” (read traditionally feminine) policing roles (Natarajan, 2014).

Examples do exist, however, of policing services and practices which have begun to accommodate alternative masculinities which see caring and cultural sensitivity as legitimate policing roles (Bevan & MacKenzie, 2012; Colvin, 2012). Male recruits from minority communities in Australia, for example, were more likely to be successful in policing diverse communities; and a study by Colvin (2012) found that many gay and lesbian police officers were finding space to express agency and, importantly, noted that policing was becoming more effective as a result. There is evidence for such change occurring within the New Zealand context.

Gender and Policing in the New Zealand Police

In their seminal article on the New Zealand Police’s community policing pilot program in Timor-Leste, Bevan and MacKenzie (2012) “challenge the portrayal of masculinities as a static, constantly violent construct that is present in the majority of literature on masculinity and policing” (p. 523). They argue that while there were various forms of militarized policing apparent, there was also clear testimony that these militarized masculinities were not accepted wholeheartedly by all police officers. New Zealand police officers spoke about the importance of soft skills, collaborative relationships, cultural sensitivity, mediation skills, and adapting masculinities that rejected these hegemonic forms. This level of self-awareness reflects, in part, the recent efforts made by the New Zealand Police to both increase participation of women at all levels within their own service and to pursue more gender-aware policies and practices.

In terms of changes in women’s participation rates within the national police service, a national Women’s Advisory Network (WAN) was created within the New Zealand Police in 2014 and efforts were made to boost women’s recruitment through a range of initiatives including the creation of a TV reality show titled “Women in Blue” (New Zealand Police, 2016, p. 17). Subsequent numbers indeed suggest a degree of success in attracting women to work for Police in recent years. In 2011, women comprised 17.3% of constabulary staff, 18.9% in 2016 (New Zealand Police, 2016, p. 6), and 19.5% in 2017 (New Zealand Police, 2017, p. 5). In 2015, 34% of recruits starting their training at the Police College were women (New Zealand Police, 2016, p. 17), while the graduating class in 2018 was comprised of 42 women out of 80 cadets. Importantly, too, the graduation of this cohort in 2018 pushed the overall number of policewomen serving in New Zealand to more than 2,000 for the first time. In terms of women employed in senior roles, in 2018, the New Zealand Police reported 47 sworn females employed at Inspector level or higher (“New Zealand’s Written Response to the CEDAW Committee Following the 70th Session Review on Thursday 12 July 2018,” 2018, p. 3), while in the 2017, New Zealand Police appointed a female Assistant Commissioner for the first time. These developments all indicate improvements in participation and promotion rates of and for women within the New Zealand Police service itself.

Gender-relevant or gender-sensitive policies and practices have also begun to take root. For example, it has become apparent that the policing of domestic violence has become an institutional and societal priority. Since 2015, specialist training provided at Police College for responding to domestic violence incidents has increased from a mere 2 to 4 hr to 60 hr—an important development when Police now spend approximately 40% of their time responding to such events (Lawrence, 2018). Moreover, in terms of implementing gender-sensitive policy and practice in international settings, job descriptions for International Service Group roles within New Zealand Police now require the ability to “apply a gender perspective” (for Advisor and Senior Advisor roles) or the need to “understand” New Zealand’s responsibilities under the WPS agenda and “lead” the application of a gender perspective (for Team Leader roles) (New Zealand Police, 2018). By late 2016, 100% of pre-deployment training courses for international posts included a gender component (New Zealand Police, 2016, p. 5), which New Zealand Police identify as the ability to “detect if, when and how, men and women are being affected differently by a situation due to their gender. However, an ongoing ideological and resourcing commitment to attaining gender equality is needed to maintain and advance the gains made so far, particularly if New Zealand is to contribute positively to changes in the Pacific region.

Gender Issues in Pacific Policing Contexts

Pacific Police Services, in the Pacific’s Small Island Developing States, are generally modeled on their counterparts in New Zealand and Australia and the United States (for the North Pacific). Unlike these jurisdictions, however, many Pacific Police Services also operate within contexts of hybridized forms of authority where institutions such as the church or customary leadership may be the preferred avenue through which justice and law and order is sought especially in rural areas where the state has little reach (Greener et al., 2011). It is within these complicated local contexts that police can struggle to grapple with some of the highest recorded rates of gender-based violence in the world. Bull et al. (2019) cite a “raft of recent studies conducted in Samoa, Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Fiji, Vanuatu, Tonga and New Caledonia which suggest that between 40% and 70% of women experience violence at the hands of intimate partners and family across their lifetimes” (p. 55; see Samoan Office of the Ombudsman, Samoa’s National Human Rights Institution, 2018). Given these shocking facts and figures, it is very important to ascertain if there are any other options for improving gender equality and minimizing gender-based violence.

Because they are seen to embody the “political and social values of society” (Greener et al., 2011, p. 19), the attitudes and behaviors that police exhibit toward gender-related crime can act to shape broader societal views (Greener et al., 2011). It was thus exceptionally concerning that research conducted for the Pacific Prevention of Domestic Violence Programme (PPDVP) in five Pacific Island Countries showed that both male and female police staff held views on gender and gender-based violence that reflected those of the general population and that these views were antithetical to a sustained and effective justice sector response (see also MacIntyre, 2012).

When asked whether they thought domestic violence was a crime, for example, between 5% and 14% of male respondents and up to 16% of female respondents disagreed—remembering here that these are police officers who are tasked with responding to gender-based violence. Similarly, up to 40% of male (and 25% of female respondents) in one Pacific Island country thought that it was permissible for a wife to be hit if she is unfaithful and up to 19% of female respondents (and 12% of male) in another Pacific Island country thought that it was also permissible in circumstances where a wife disobeyed her husband. The same survey showed that across the five countries, the family was seen as almost as important or, in some cases, more important than the police for dealing with domestic violence, with the village hierarchy coming in a close third in all but one of the countries surveyed (Roguski & Mossman, 2012).

Patriarchal or hegemonic masculinities were also reflected by both women and men respondents when asked about aspects of gender equality in the workplace. Across all countries, a very high percentage of both male and female police respondents (up to 66%) thought that women were better suited to clerical work and up to 55% thought that women should not be carrying out “front-line” policing duties. While only a small percentage (up to 8%) thought that women should not be police officers, up to 27% thought that women should not be allowed to be supervisors and up to 34% thought that women officers should not be allowed to drive cars (Roguski & Mossman, 2012).

Having established the overall context for this research by considering some of the literature on masculinities and gender and policing in the Pacific, in the following sections, we outline our methodology and results of our study into masculinities operating within the New Zealand Police in their roles in policing in the Pacific.

PPDVP

The PPDVP was designed in the early 2000s and began implementation in 2005 in response to growing concern among New Zealand High Commissioners and PICP (n.d.) about the significant negative social and economic impacts of domestic violence on communities across the Pacific. PPDVP was initially conceived as a partnership between the MFAT, the PICP, and the New Zealand Police, with the Australian Federal Police (AFP) joining the program in 2013 to support Police Services in Micronesia (specifically Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and Guam).

The long-term vision of the PPDVP was that of a “Safer Pacific free from Domestic Violence” and its primary objective was to “increase the commitment and capacity of Pacific police services to respond effectively to domestic violence” (Turnball, 2011, p. 1). Other significant objectives included the development of partnerships between the police and other relevant government agencies, non-government organizations (NGOs), churches, and communities, and supporting the development and implementation of appropriate national-level domestic violence policy and legislative frameworks, including the training of the judiciary and legal professions (Turnball, 2011).

The PPDVP operated at two levels—regionally and nationally. Regionally, the focus was on developing a common and consistent understanding and approach in relation to domestic violence issues among all 21 Pacific Police Services and linked organizations, while nationally, the Program worked intensively in five countries (Kiribati, Samoa, Vanuatu, Cook Islands, and Tonga) to meet the objectives noted above. Practically, this involved training and capacity building, setting up and staffing Domestic Violence Units, the development of case management and referral systems and databases, and the development of policies and legislation to address domestic violence across the justice sector (PPDVP, 2014).

Senior New Zealand Police officers were seconded as mentors for the program and would visit their assigned country regularly to build relationships and deliver aspects of the program such as training, adapting or instigating new systems, and monitoring the changes. The independent evaluation of the first phase of the PPDVP, which was conducted in July 2011, saw this “police to police” delivery model as a significant strength and one that recognized the importance of relationships and the ongoing nature of capacity building in development practice (Turnball, 2011).

The first phase of the PPDVP (2005–2011) reflected the orthodoxy that domestic violence was a “women’s problem.” Three of the original five New Zealand Police mentors were women. However, the PPDVP leadership soon realized that the Program would never be successful unless male police officers, and men in general, changed their attitudes toward women. To understand this more, the PPDVP commissioned a sexual and gender-based violence survey of 680 police staff in the five participating countries. The survey was designed in a participatory way with Pacific Police Services and clearly showed that gendered beliefs toward women disempowered female police officers and led to inadequate responses to policing domestic violence.

This research was further strengthened by Knowledge Attitude and Practice studies on case file attrition among participating Pacific Police Services. This showed that, while knowledge of best practice policing of domestic violence was high, the way in which police responded (their practice) was often different. For example, even though the five countries had “no-drop” policies for domestic violence cases, in practice, up to 48% of all cases in some countries were withdrawn either by the victim, the police, or the prosecutor (Gregory & Roguski, 2014, pp. 32–33). Similarly, when asked about best practice for crime scene investigations, 91% of respondents knew that a thorough investigation should always be carried out regardless of whether a confession had been obtained from the perpetrator. In practice, however, 75% followed protocol with some opting to do only a quick sketch of the crime scene if the offender had already confessed and others, to not secure the crime scene at all (Gregory & Roguski, 2014, p. 31).

As the PPDVP progressed through its second phase (2011–2016), tackling gender inequality both within and outside of participating Pacific Police Services increasingly became a focus. Male New Zealand police officers were increasingly assigned as mentors so that men could interact directly with other men, and gender-sensitivity training was introduced across the program, including for staff. Rather than being siloed in a separate domestic violence unit, some participating Pacific Police Services began to mainstream responsibility for domestic violence investigations, and there was a shift toward prevention activities that focused on the monitoring of high-risk and repeat offenders, as is the practice in New Zealand. Judges, the majority of whom were men, also received gender-awareness training through a partnership between PPDVP and the Pacific Judicial Strengthening Programme (also funded by the New Zealand Official Development Assistance).

In 2014, the PPDVP made the decision to hold a symposium in Nadi, Fiji, that would bring together religious leaders of all faiths, Pacific Chiefs of Police, traditional leaders, representatives of civil society, and Pacific regional agencies. The symposium was designed to establish a consensus among senior representatives across these key institutions that domestic violence was not acceptable in the Pacific on any grounds. Such an approach was vitally important as research has increasingly demonstrated the need for programs to respond to—and engage with—contextual specificity (Bull et al., 2021, p. 4). Ending with a signed accord, symposium participants “affirmed that domestic violence is a serious violation of human rights most affecting women” and “concluded that culture provides no legitimate bases for gender discrimination nor any forms of abuse by men on women (and children) and that such abuse amounts to domestic violence” (PPDVP, 2014, p. 2).

In respect to religion, the accord concluded that “theological teaching does not justify gender inequality” and that “religion should not be used as an excuse for abuse” (PPDVP, 2014). The accord affirmed the positive role that religion can play in eliminating gender discrimination in the Pacific and called for the “empowering of all people to embrace and promote gender equality within the church” (PPDVP, 2014). Finally, the accord called upon Pacific Police chiefs to both “acknowledge and address the high rates of domestic violence in the Pacific” and to “champion the elimination of SGBV . . . [through] . . . strong leadership” (PPDVP, 2014).

Following the success of the symposium and its accord, PPDVP began the development of a “gender model” that would be a “pragmatic approach for Pacific Police Services to prevent and respond to domestic violence.” It was proposed that this model would draw on the gender building blocks that were already in place under the PPDVP, including the gender training that had been delivered, the Nadi Accord (2014) noted above, high-level buy-in across the Pacific Chiefs of Police on PPDVP’s work, the evidence and knowledge-based gender advocacy being implemented through PPDVP, and the PPDVP gender approach that had been developed in 2014 by NGOs, Pacific Police Services, and the PPDVP. The new gender model would also take into account gender mainstreaming and monitoring and evaluation principles, including in particular, the need for outcomes and accountability (Utanga, 2016), and initiatives such as the introduction of Police Safety Notices have helped to support broader gender justice aims (Ride and Soaki 2019).

At around the same time as the gender model was being developed, PPDVP was expecting to enter a third and final phase. Approximately, 10 million dollars had been invested in the Program and staff were looking to find a way to ensure that it would be sustainable by the end of the third phase. Once they had been adapted for Pacific Police Services, the United Nations Joint Global Programme on Essential Services for Women and Girls Subject to Violence (the UN standards) was seen as a way through which the program could focus only on those aspects of the response to domestic violence that required further development. Subsequently, the UN standards were tested in Guam and program staff undertook further analysis of all five original participating Pacific Police Services against them. While some countries scored relatively highly on the simple red, amber, and green rubric that PPDVP applied, it was clear that more work was needed to sustain the gains made.

Instead of entering a third phase of PPDVP, however, the International Services Group of the New Zealand Police Service (the unit that delivers New Zealand’s policing programs in the Pacific) decided to shift its focus to mainstreaming gender and policing activities, including in their planned responses to domestic violence issues. This reflected the policy shift toward “prevention” in policing domestic violence and the fact that, while it was in many ways very successful, the PPDVP had largely operated in silos in the five participating countries. The response to domestic violence was thus seen as an “add on” and not core business of the police, even though it was a major part of the crime landscape.

Gender programs can thus be vulnerable to siloization in numerous ways, and the move toward a further “mainstreaming” of gender in policing is clearly seen in New Zealand’s contribution to policing in Solomon Islands.

Gender and Policing in the Solomon Islands

Following years of civil conflict, in 2003, appeals by the Solomon Islands Prime Minister and Parliament to the Australian Government for help resulted in an assistance package under the auspices of a Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI). Endorsed by the foreign ministers of the Pacific Forum, this police-led mission looked to restore law and order and the basic functions of government. Of significance in the case of RAMSI was the commitment to community policing by the Participating Police Force (Greener et al., 2011, p. 17). Within this context, the New Zealand Police were reported to have a real ability to comfort in, for example, workshop settings when there was fear and tension. They also had a particularly important role in encouraging crime victims, many of whom were women, to come forward (New Zealand Police Ref: Annex A: 70). While RAMSI formally ended in June 2017, with around 800 New Zealand Police staff having served, both Australia and New Zealand remain as mentors for the RSIPF who took full operational responsibility for all policing matters as of July 1, 2017. (Note that in 2021, significant public unrest resulted in a return of external police partners to help restore order. As of the submission of this article, the situation in Solomon Islands remains tense, with levels of dissatisfaction about political choices and a lack of economic opportunity particularly high and with many analysts calling for a rethink rather than a “do-over” of RAMSI [Peake, 2021]).

Post-RAMSI, the police-led gender “mandate” lay specifically with the Australian Federal Police International Deployment Group, ⁶ as part of the Solomon Islands Police Development Programme (SIPDP). Gender issues were to be specifically addressed through five dedicated advisors working in the areas of gender, family violence, transnational crime (e.g., foreign sex offenders), and sexual assault. However, while the AFP are focused explicitly on gender-specific programming, some New Zealand Police are approaching gender implicitly in an embodied manner. Although raising awareness and knowledge about gender and gender-based violence has been an important step in fostering an environment where gender conversations began to take place, the New Zealand Police officers we spoke to, the observations undertaken, and the training materials provided in pre-deployment, all suggest that gender issues need to be managed holistically.

For example, the New Zealand Police focus, via a partnership between New Zealand Police and RSIPF, is to improve community policing and re-establish community trust in the police. Via a partnership with the Honiara City Council, they are also working to increase youth engagement and support the need to upgrade facilities for youth in Honiara—indeed the New Zealand Police have recognized that a focus on youth work is critical for tackling the kind of attitudes and behaviors that lead to gender inequality in all its forms.

New Zealand Police have emphasized sustainable community engagement with the idea that the RSIPF must be the face of policing. New Zealand Police has continued to support the RSIPF through mentoring and capability development, and this work is underpinned by official New Zealand Police values of Professionalism, Respect, Integrity, Commitment to Māori and the Treaty of Waitangi, Empathy, and Valuing Diversity. These were viewed by the New Zealand officers that we spoke to as being relatable values which resonate with Solomon Islands people which have helped with the process of building relationship, trust, and confidence.

Interestingly, there was also an explicit focus on using the wider skill set of police officers to take part in sports projects as part of youth engagement and trust building. Numerous New Zealand police officers have become significantly, deeply involved, often in their own time, using their own resources to participate and give support, in the sport space. This occurs through local sites of engagement, for example, through the White River Rookies Basketball program or as support staff to the Solomon Islands men’s touch rugby team at the 2019 Pacific Games held in Samoa.

Discussions with some New Zealand Police officers suggest that this building of relationships with youth and men through such modes of interaction has been vital in providing a basis for role modeling positive approaches to gender equality, as well as enabling problematic behavior to be called out more successfully. Mainstreaming gender-sensitive practices as part and parcel of everyday activities that men partake in, such as sport, rather than siloing out “gender” as something to address via special programs could help to support the aim of gender equality. The idea is that the embodying and demonstration of caring masculinities by male New Zealand police officers provide an alternative, attractive model for young local men. The following quotes by three different male New Zealand police officers working in the community underscore how police officers may recognize to varying extents that their implicit work on gender contributes to broader gender equality initiatives via certain gender performances (in this case, caring masculinities), and suggest that helping to inculcate or train or reward certain performances of masculinity may reap rewards:

The gender mandate sits with the Aussies, they’re here for a long time, but this doesn’t mean we can’t have an impact on men in other ways. We just get in there with men and young people, build relationships, be present, try to connect with them, low key, play a game, talk, that’s what Kiwis do. I really like how I am able to be involved in the X sport programme. It’s really the sort of thing I like, a much more holistic approach to dealing with issues.

And,

We’re not doing gender really, at least not as a specific programme. But you can’t just stop what you know though or what you value. So yeah, not specifically but still doing it, you don’t just stop caring about these issues, these people, women and girls, even if it isn’t your thing. Think about if this was your own sister or daughters.

Regardless of the differing focuses and initiatives of the New Zealand Police and the AFP, for example, it was also highlighted how important it was to understand what each other was doing.

We definitely need to make sure we are all playing in the same sandpit re gender, sure the sandpit is no longer ours, but we still need to make sure what we do adds value.