Seeing Gender: Representation, State Capacity, and Police Reform in India

• In Event: Policing in the Global South

Abstract

How can bureaucracies work more effectively on behalf of marginalized citizens? Reform efforts typically focus on agency capacity (resources, training) or on descriptive representation (officials from under-represented groups). This paper shows that these efforts are deeply intertwined; activation of state capacity hinges on the empowerment of under-represented officials, and vice versa. Drawing on mixed methods research in India, home to some of the highest rates of gender-based violence, we show how women are often rendered invisible within law enforcement — leading to deprioritization of their security concerns and to the marginalization of female officers. We then show how an institutional reform creating women’s help desks staffed by female officers worked to build space (physical, cognitive, and symbolic) that enhanced the visibility of gender – both in police work (ascribing value to women’s cases) and within police stations (elevating the standing of female officers). Visibility of this kind, we argue, is central to efforts to activate state capacity and representation.

Author

• Gabrielle Kruks-Wisner, University of Virginia