Bridging Boundaries: United States Policewomen's Efforts to Form an International Network

• Published in: International journal of police science & management 1998-03, Vol.1 (1), p.70-80
• Main Author: Schulz, Dorothy Moses
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1461-3557; 1478-1603
• DOI: 10.1177/146135579800100108

This paper focuses on the history and evolution of the International Association of Policewomen and its successor group, the International Association of Women Police (IAWP), in their continuing efforts to form an international network of policewomen beginning in 1915. Both groups sought to reinforce the specialist role that women initially played in policing. These attempts to form an international network are intertwined with the changing role of policewomen from social work to a more purely police orientation, particularly in the United States. With the 1996 conference, attended by 600 delegates from 42 nations, the IAWP has achieved true international status but may now be obliged to recognise that complete integration of women into the police chain of command may not be the aim of women from countries that retain a more traditional view of the woman's sphere as centring around crimes involving women, children and domestic matters. Issues for future consideration are also raised in this paper.