The number of female applicants to the Abu Dhabi police has doubled after a recruitment drive started in October. Helena Frith Powell gets rare access to see the latest cadets at their training school.
Emirati women are perhaps not renowned for their love of flat shoes, drab clothes and severe discipline. But should you find yourself at the Abu Dhabi Police Women Training Section on any weekday between 8 and 9am, you will be greeted by the unusual sight of around 100 of them marching in time to a beat
dictated by four female trainers.
“This year for the first time we are allowed to go home after training,” says Mona Alawad, who is 28 and from Abu Dhabi. “It would be tough to stay all week, especially if you are a mother.”
The cadets in khaki uniforms are the latest female recruits to the Abu Dhabi Police Department, a force that proportionally boasts more women than either London or New York and is doing its best to encourage more to join. The recruitment drive has proven so successful, according to the Ministry of Interior at Abu Dhabi Police General Headquarters, that the number of applicants had nearly doubled since efforts to attract Emirati women to the job began last October. The number of female applicants for the latest recruiting class had increased from the usual 50 to 60 to more than 100. In Abu Dhabi there are women represented across all departments; from the traffic police to dog training, the community police to the special tasks division responsible for security for visiting VIPs and major events, as well as anti-riot action. The most senior policewoman is a lieutenant-colonel. But in order to attract women, the Abu Dhabi police have had to change the regulations.
