Attitudes about gender integration among Bahraini policewomen

This research explored Bahraini policewomen’s attitudes towards gender integration of their police force. It tests two duelling hypotheses. The first hypothesis, embracing the modernization model of the development of women in policing, predicts that younger generations of policewomen will be more likely to show support for gender integration. The second hypothesis is that the shift in the Bahraini culture from a nationalist secular feminism in the 1970s to the present neo-conservative Islamism predicts that younger generations of policewomen are less likely to support gender integration. In 2005, a survey was distributed to all Bahraini policewomen (N = 241) with 46% (N = 112) returning the completed questionnaire. Results from multiple regression analysis show that neither hypotheses satisfactorily predicted variations in Bahraini policewomen’s attitudes towards gender integration. Suggestions for more nuanced theories were offered to frame analyses of gender and policing in cultural contexts like Bahrain.