Ahead of International Women’s Day, Supt Suzanne Smith, Vice President of the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents (ASPS), has spoken of her journey to the senior ranks of Scottish policing and her hopes for women in the force.
Suzanne said that until she became an Inspector in 2013, she felt her gender had played no part in her career progression. “But when I became an Inspector, it became really apparent that I was a woman in a man’s world, to some degree,” she said. “There were a very small number of us in that rank then.”
Police Scotland figures from last year show that there were 900 male officers ranked Inspector or above, and just 350 female officers. But the force does have a female Chief Constable, Jo Farrell, as well as two female Deputy Chief Constables and a number of female Assistant Chief Constables.
It was time to “redefine the leadership qualities needed for policing”, Suzanne said: “Traditionally, the skill that people felt worked in policing was being able to take command and control. While that is still important, there are many other vital skills that are more associated with women. An ability to work cohesively with others, to collaborate, and be people-focused.
“We need to take time to build trust and relationships, and to look at how societal issues can impact policing. Perhaps that ability to work alongside others, and multitask, comes more naturally to women because of other roles they’ve performed in their life and the hurdles they’ve encountered.”
Suzanne said that resilience was an important quality for female officers: “You’re having to get up every day, dust yourself off and go again. It’s like we’re on the travelator at the end of the Gladiators race and occasionally somebody will try and swipe you to the side!
“So it’s having that resilience to get up and go again, whether that’s for a promotion, a lateral move, or having to problem-solve a societal issue.”
One positive change is that women can now be themselves at work, Suzanne said: “When I joined the police, there were senior officers who were women, but often they would display male characteristics, because that was how they managed to navigate the situation at the time. There’s less of a requirement for that now. You can continue to be yourself and be a woman in the workplace, without having to change your behaviour to fit in or to conform.”
This International Women’s Day, the theme is ‘Accelerate Action’, and Suzanne said more can be done to encourage female officers to aim high and go for promotion.
She said: “One real challenge is that when I speak to women in the workplace who are considering development or progression, they’re always waiting to be truly ready. I tell them that at some point they’re going to have to take a leap.
“Other people nudged me towards routes for promotion. And this is not a women-only responsibility. The people who’ve supported me to get to this point have mostly been men. Getting women into senior ranks can’t be solved just by women. It’s everybody around them.”
Suzanne encouraged female police officers to find a mentor who can help them navigate processes in the force. Having visible female role models was also important, she said: “When you come into a role and you see someone who looks like you, who’s got similar challenges outside of work as you, you think, ‘Well, they did it, so why can’t I?’.”
ASPS is working hard to encourage women into senior roles, Suzanne said: “We look at what we should be exploring in policing to make sure that Scotland has got the best set of senior officers as they possibly can, and if there’s any specific things that might encourage women to move on to the next Chief Superintendent, or the next ACC.
“I want to make a difference, and this rank gives me the privilege to have more influence and more visibility. But none of that would have been possible without the women who’ve come before me, who’ve come through at a different time and undoubtedly encountered greater hardship than I have.”