One woman cop for every 5,000 women in West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh in 2022: Govt data

Women representation in police forces lower in West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh

Women safety and security has become a point of focus in light of the recent incident in West Bengal, a Moneycontrol analysis shows that most states have failed to do their part in terms of providing adequate representation of women in the police force.

West Bengal, which has seen protests erupt after the rape of a doctor at workplace, had one of the worst ratios of women population to female police personnel in 2022.

A Moneycontrol analysis of data from police research unit of ministry of home affairs shows that Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal had one female police personnel for over 5,000 women across the state.

The corresponding ratio for the country was much better with one female officer for every 2,700 women.

While the state boasts more women in its workforce than Madhya Pradesh. Women strength was 9.95 percent of the total police strength compared with 7.39 percent in Madhya Pradesh, it was still one of the few states which have seen conditions worsen in terms of female participation.

India’s ratio was still higher at 11.75 percent.

West Bengal and Jharkhand were the only two large states to witness a decline in women protection over the last four years.

The ratio of women population per female personnel was better at 4,642 in West Bengal in 2018, compared with 5,041 in 2022.

West Bengal also lagged other large states in terms of providing facilities for women. Among the larger states, West Bengal had fewer helpdesks setup for women in rural areas (205), even lower than Chhattisgarh (252) and Bihar (304).

Learnings from Andhra Pradesh

States can learn from Andhra Pradesh model which has seen a complete turnaround in women participation in police.

While Andhra Pradesh was one of the worst performers both in terms of women representation in police force and protection of women, the state has been able to engineer a turnaround in just four years.

From over 11,000 women per female police personnel in 2018, the ratio has fallen to 1,370 women being covered by one female police officer.

In terms of proportion of women in workforce, their ratio has jumped to 21.8 percent, one of the highest among large states compared with 3.8 percent just four years ago.

However, analysis shows that none of the states have been able to reach the 33 percent reservation guaranteed for women police force, which some states had announced they would implement.

Indian states and UTs employed 246,103 women in police in 2022, a 33 percent reservation would entail a near tripling of workforce.

Five states accounted for half of the total female police population of the country.