Issue No. 602
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5 - 11 September 2002 Issue No. 602 Chronicles |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Al-Ahram: A Diwanof contemporary life (458)
Women police
The idea of women working in the Egyptian police force in the 1930s had the public and the press in lively debate. Proponents named many tasks a police woman would excel at but detractors held aloft an equally long list of social and religious considerations. The two sides gave compelling evidence to support their position, writes Professor Yunan Labib Rizk*
Al-Ahram, like newspapers everywhere, has always seized upon opportunities to promote itself. Such an opportunity presented itself in 1927 at the time of the national census, on which occasion Al- Ahram invited readers to predict the outcome, with a prize of LE135 to the person that submitted the closest guess. Naturally, the newspaper's distribution figures soared during that period.
In 1930, Al-Ahram seized another occasion, albeit a rather peculiar one: the arrival in Cairo, on 11 February, of Commander Mary Ellen. Shortly before this, six British policewomen had arrived in Alexandria and took up duties there, with "initial results that inspire confidence".
This was not the first time the Alexandria police had engaged female officers. A lawyer writing from the port city informed Al- Ahram readers that seven years earlier there had been two women in the force: Miss Julia George of Britain at a monthly salary of LE21 and Miss Fortina from Italy at LE18 per month.
Alexandria was the natural environment for introducing women to the police force in Egypt. With its large European community it would have, on the whole, been more open to the idea than other places in which the conservatism of Egyptian society would have been more predominant. As a port city, certain activities proliferated in Alexandria that would render women on the force a distinct advantage. Prime among these was prostitution, the practitioners of which were primarily foreign women, including Greeks and Italians.
Other newspapers might have published the news of the arrival of the British policewomen on an inside page. Not Al-Ahram, which featured it on its front page and conducted a survey of readers' opinions on the introduction of women into the police force in Egypt, a survey which held readers' attention for more than a month, with the consequent boost in distribution.
Launching the call for a survey was the Al-Ahram writer, the famous poet and commentator Mae Ziyadah, who on 12 February 1930 wrote: "We solicit your opinion, dear reader." She had just received a letter from the London-based Policewomen's Magazine, along with a copy of the magazine, asking her advice on the future of this type of police force in Egypt and what activities she envisioned it could perform. The letter proved an excellent occasion "to put the idea to the test and come to a decision, for the idea we have put before the public is a social issue and, therefore, is easy to discuss impartially and dispassionately". She then asks readers to respond to a specific question: "What is your opinion on introducing a female police force in Egypt? Do you think it will contribute to moral purification and the reform of public ethics?"
Unlike the poll it conducted during the census of 1927 Al- Ahram decided not to offer prizes to participants in the present survey. It explained, "With your participation you will help shape and strengthen public opinion and take pride in its force. Is there any prize more valuable, any worthier aspiration to behoove you into sending in your response?"
To ensure that readers' responses were better informed, Al-Ahram published an article from Policewomen's Magazine, listing the benefits that would accrue to society from women on the force. They could keep an eye on women who had tried to commit suicide. They could take statements from women and children in the event of a crime and in the event of sexual or other assault they could assist in the identification of the assailant, the corroboration of evidence and preparation of testimony before the courts. Other duties of policewomen would include investigating charges against "women of ill repute" or charges of drunk and disorderly or other immoral conduct levelled against women, in which context they could assist in house searches, body searches and the surveillance of entertainment halls and furnished flats with female tenants. In addition, they could accompany female prisoners from jail to the court, conduct searches of female convicts and monitor the conditions of female prisoners. They could further perform such charitable services as locating shelters for homeless women and children.
One suspects that Al-Ahram readers that day would have cast a sceptical eye over the ostensible benefits. Rarely would they have heard of an Egyptian woman committing suicide. Odder yet would have been a woman apprehended for inebriation or other immoral conduct, given that such behaviour would have cost her reputation and, perhaps, her life.
In all events, over the following weeks letters from readers poured into Al-Ahram offices. Naturally, the management was delighted with the response -- they had received 1,026 letters. Unfortunately, they confessed, they could not publish them all, especially due to the fact that many had exceeded the stipulated length of 10 lines. In the end the newspaper published 346 of these letters; the quantity was more than sufficient to furnish insight not only into Egyptian public opinion in general, but also into the views of certain social strata on an issue that involved political, social and moral considerations.
Out of the more than 1,000 letters, 344 respondents agreed to the idea of women on the police force, though most of these had some reservations. As the idea was being tested with six British policewomen in Alexandria, as we have seen, this in itself was a matter of controversy.
A student at Dar Al-Ulum held that only British women were suitable for the job. Beyond the training and experience available to them, they would not be prone to the demands of friendship or other social considerations that Egyptian policewomen would encounter in their dealings with other Egyptian women. In addition, foreign women "have the will to apply the law, which will instill sufficient fear in the hearts of young women and keep their souls from straying into wantonness".
However, for most respondents the idea of foreigners in the police in particular struck a discordant note with their patriotic sentiments. The British had a long history of control over this agency in Egypt. Indeed, Russell Pasha served as chief police commissioner of the governorate of Cairo until 1946 and at the time of the survey many senior officers and constables were British or British colonials from Malta or Cyprus.
Such sentiments were voiced in the letter from a teacher at the Sultan Hussein Kamel School: "Foreigners are the source of every ailment and the font of every calamity that ail us. Our government is currently striving to cleanse its various branches of foreigners in order to display the downtrodden talents of the Egyptian people. How then can it permit itself to introduce British policewomen when there are many Egyptian women who are equally capable and are more familiar with our customs, character and language?"
Taking a conciliatory stance was a retired police sergeant who held that British women should be allowed on the force for a limited period of time, during which Egyptian women would be educated and apprenticed to the job. Then, "when they demonstrate that they are as competent as the British policewomen, they will replace them". He adds, however, "The period of service of the British chief of the women's police force could be renewable."
Many felt other conditions were essential. Above all they felt that candidates should have a minimum level of education so as not to repeat the situation of uneducated police conscripts. An employee in the Ministry of Finance wrote that only "qualified Egyptian women" should be hired. A doctor from Sinbalawin suggested that "educated women" should be sent abroad "to acquire modern methods of combating corruption and ethical flaws". Then when they returned, their knowledge of the language, mentality and manners of Egyptians would enable them to adapt these methods locally.
A respondent from Suez listed conditions for instituting the idea of a women's police force. His letter so impressed the Al- Ahram management that they set aside their 10-line length stipulation and published it in full, giving it nearly a full column in its issue of 18 February 1930.
Many of the conditions pertained to legal codes that should be in place. "Morally fallen" women in the streets and alleyways should be apprehended and taken to the police station where the duty officer would draw up an official notification warning them not to return to the streets and that if apprehended again they would be penalised under the vagrancy law. Women should not be permitted into nightclubs unless chaperoned by a husband or male relative. If a female guest in a nightclub comports herself in a manner disruptive of public morals, she and her chaperon should be taken to the police station where charges would be filed.
A number of conditions revolved around prostitution which was still legal at that time. Establishments catering to prostitution and moral depravity should be relocated away from the city centre, and residential premises reputed to be rented by the "morally depraved" for the purposes of trading in vice should be officially closed. Prostitutes soliciting at family homes should be arrested. Lastly, the government should halt the issuing of new licences for trading in prostitution.
Moving to the women's police force itself, the respondent from Suez held that, firstly, a women's police academy should be established and that candidates must be of good reputation and sound character. Graduates recruited into the force would be under the supervision of a foreign female officer over the age of 30. Policewomen would not wear a distinguishing uniform and they would be charged with "eradicating vice and instilling virtue". One of their primary duties would be to gather information and evidence for investigating crimes of an ambiguous nature. These officers would report to a female police chief, of which there should be one in every major police station and whose duties would consist of filing and following through on charges and other such procedural matters. No other branch of the police would have the authority to intervene in her duties, he added. Finally, he urged immediate steps to establish women's police forces in Cairo, Alexandria, Port Said and Suez.
While other contributors may have added some detail, the respondent from Suez presents the fullest portrait of an Egyptian conception of a women's police force and its functions. Yet, as attuned to considerations of tradition and morals as it was, the number of respondents opposed to such an agency far outnumbered those in favour. Opposition stemmed from ethical considerations, the general attitude towards women in a male- dominated society and from certain understandings of Islam.
Some respondents held that policewomen would be too vulnerable to harassment to be effective -- "especially if they are pretty, for their beauty will tempt young men to win their favour, wherein would lie disaster", as a building contractor from Cairo wrote. A reader from Alexandria added that if the candidates chosen were young, "the risk would always be there that one day, if you pardon my saying so, one of her colleagues will be dragging her off to the police station".
Addressing this reservation, a respondent openly asserted that members of the force should be "older foreign women". He added that they should also be fluent in Arabic and familiar with Egyptian morals and customs "so that their work is fruitful". In this regard, Al-Ahram observed that most of the participants in the survey felt that if there were a women's police force its members should be of "incontestable ugliness, scowling countenance and menacing appearance".
The inferiority of women was a commonly cited reason for rejecting the idea of a female police force. Epitomising this view was the letter from Mahmoud Aouni, a member of the judiciary, published in Al-Ahram of 19 February.
Much of the work of police officers involves the administrative procedures associated with stopping crime and apprehending criminals, Aouni wrote. "In view of their inherent weakness and tenderness, women are inferior to men in any administrative action that demands speed, firmness and resolve." Police work required honesty and integrity, especially in the prosecution of vice. "It has been established that women are inferior to men in this regard as is indicated by the divine decree stipulating that testimony from a woman is worth half that of a man and by a woman's natural inclination to inconsistency and breach of promise." Thirdly, the judge maintained, women lacked the acumen, perspicacity and discernment necessary for investigative police work. Fourthly, he wrote, Egypt had no lack of competent men which compelled it to resort to engaging women in the law enforcement agencies. "It has been incontrovertibly proven that men are superior to women in all activities, including cooking and sewing. Even if it could be said that women succeed one day in secretarial posts they will never succeed in police work."
Many respondents explicitly cited religious authority as grounds for opposing a women's police force. Typifying these was a sheikh of the Ahmedi Sufi order who cited a saying by the Prophet to the effect that women are taboo or awra. He continues, "In view of this decisive utterance, how can anyone approve of a female police force in Egypt to safeguard morals? Were our Ministry of Education just it would introduce more religious education in our schools for girls so as to inculcate them with a better knowledge of their religion."
Adding his voice to the Ahmedi sheikh was a parliamentary representative from Alexandria who urged authorities and public opinion to consult and implement the teachings of Islam. "The issue would be very straightforward if our religious leaders took heed of this matter, performed their duty towards the nation and demanded the application of the provisions of Islamic law, which came into being in order to purify peoples' souls."
In a similar request to apply Islamic law, a writer from the Darb Al-Ahmar precinct held that the time was ripe for reform and that this entailed "tightening the hold on women, with the aid of the religious courts once Shari'a is put into effect".
Alongside the minority of advocates and the majority of detractors, there were not a few respondents who did not take the survey seriously. Among these we note the following exchange:
"A women's police force in Egypt? Heaven forbid!" signed "Afraid."
The one-liner prompted the response, "A women's police force in Egypt -- what's wrong with that? They'll still have hands and feet, so why not accept them?" -- "Not afraid."
Another letter was signed, "Nadhifa Hanem Hikmat", which was perhaps a pseudonym in that nadhifa means clean and pure. She wrote that she was the first Egyptian woman to volunteer for the force, "on the condition that I receive a police colonel's salary and that I have absolute freedom to pursue women and men that deserve to be pursued".
At least Fatma Nabawiya "daughter of Ibrahim Ahmed Fathi" took the previous letter seriously, volunteering to become a police conscript under the command of Nadhifa Hanem. She continued, "I appeal to all educated women in Egypt who find in themselves the qualities of courage and competence to step forward to combat vice. Indeed, we must declare loud and clear that we [Egyptian women] have a greater right to be on the force than foreigners."
Many found in the survey the occasion for voicing customary attitudes towards the female sex. A student from the School of Crafts and Industry remarked that women were like devils: "No sooner do they begin a job than they ruin it. They cannot take part in building without destroying the edifice. Are we to mix rouge and white powder with crime and blood? No! For that would be to jump from the frying pan into the fire. Leave women to the safety of the home and do not bother them with this nonsensical drivel."
In a similar vein an engineer from the Electricity Authority recalls the proverbial, "In every incident, cherchez la femme." The saying, he said, emanated from a woman's instinctive cunning and art of deception. But contrary to what one might expect, he asserts, "This is all the more reason to use this audacious sex as a prime instrument for combating vice and uprooting conspirators to crime. After all, nothing fights fire like fire!"
The same opinion was voiced by the chairman of the Society of the Men of the Future, who said that the female qualities of cunning and deception enabled them to unravel the riddles of the most mysterious incidents and most horrendous crimes. In particular, women had the art of "extricating from the perpetrators of crime valuable information that undercover policemen are incapable of obtaining".
To some, the introduction of a women's police force signified the switching of male and female roles in society, even if they approached the idea with sarcastic hyperbole. What will be left to men, the chairman asks. Nothing but to undertake domestic chores. "So be it. Then send your daughters to the police and military academies and send your sons to schools for girls so that they can learn sewing, the upbringing of children and cooking."
Others similarly used the issue to exercise their wit. What would happen, asks a physician working for the Railways Authority in Cairo, were a young man to wink at a policewoman signalling his attraction to her -- "or perhaps his infatuation with her? Would she drag him off to the police station for breach of public morals? I am certain infringements of that nature would be numerous." He then exhorts, "Uphold the dignity of the police and the prestige of the law. Women signify weakness so how can we make them a symbol of strength?"
Dwelling on the same theme another writer noted that he had frequently observed policemen on duty flirting with women. "If a young, elegant gentleman, sporting a silk kerchief, were to wink his eye and wag his eyebrows at a policewoman and were this to touch her heart, what would she do? Escort the young man to the police station?"
Perhaps the most curious letter was that from an Al-Ahram reader in the Qasr Al-Dubara quarter of Cairo, proposing a solution that would reconcile opposing parties. In his opinion, a new police force should be created from eunuchs. "They would be ideal in the performance of their duties, for they could search men and women without the slightest infringement of morals because they are decent people and not prone to emotions as men and women are." The writer believes his proposal is quite practical since all the eunuchs that once worked in the country's villas and palaces were now out of work in view of the Westernisation that was taking hold of the country. It was a happy compromise but one that was never adopted.
* The author is a professor of history and head of Al-Ahram History Studies Centre.
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