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Choose to challenge on International Women’s Day 2021
Tue 02 Mar 2021
Marked every year on March 8th, International Women's Day (IWD) is the day the world takes a moment to celebrate the achievements of women and make a stand for women’s equality.
Each year has a theme and the theme for 2021 is #ChooseToChallenge. The idea is that we are all responsible for our own thoughts and actions. So, as a collective we can choose to challenge and stand against gender inequality. By taking this stand, we can work together to create a fairer and more inclusive world to live in.
There’s an online campaign inviting people to share a photo of themselves raising a hand. It symbolises the person’s commitment to challenge inequality, call out gender bias and help create a better world.
You can participate by sharing your selfie on your own social media feed, using the hashtag #ChooseToChange.
Over 100 years of female Police Officers
Did you know it’s been over 100 years since the first woman Police Officer joined the Metropolitan Police? She took to the streets of London in 1919. It didn’t exactly open the floodgates, however. It took another four years until female Police Officers were allowed to make arrests. What’s more, it wasn’t until sixty-three years later, in 1986, that female officers were permitted to carry truncheons with which they could defend themselves while on duty!
Times have changed, thankfully. A 2019[1] survey reported that there are over 37,000 female officers in the UK Police Force. And of course, in 2017 Dame Cressida Dick became the first woman to take charge of the Metropolitan Police as Commissioner.
Police Mutual sponsors the British Association for Women in Policing (BAWP). BAWP exist to empower the strong, hardworking women of the Police. The organisation’s mission is to continue to ensure that women’s voices in policing are both heard and understood.
You can find out more about BAWP here.
You can learn more about International Women’s Day here.
Type of article: Articles
Category: Supporting the Police
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