Putting Women's Concerns on the Agenda: Evidence from Community Policing in Pakistan

Abstract

Can women’s concerns gain recognition within male-dominated bureaucracies in gender unequal settings? We explore this through an RCT evaluating a community policing intervention in Pakistan, comparing a standard model to a “gender inclusive” approach. The inclusive model combines women-only community forums run by female officers to elicit women’s concerns, with mechanisms to integrate these concerns into routine planning alongside male officers. Although women rarely participate in “open-to-all” fora in the standard model, they engage robustly in women-only spaces, raising distinct issues, specifically gender-based violence (GBV). In turn, GBV is more likely to be incorporated into policing response strategies co-developed by male and female officers in these areas. Male officers who never attend women’s forums but work with female officers on response plans prioritize GBV more highly, with effects persisting for one year. These findings demonstrate how institutional designs combining separate spaces for articulation with integration for mainstreaming can durably shift frontline priorities.

Keywords: gender, South Asia, policing, violence against women