Assuring gender equity in recruitment standards for police officers

Human Rights Tribunals require application of non-discriminatory fitness standards in the hiring, promotion, and retention of employees. This issue has become controversial for public safety officers such as police, where differences in average levels of absolute fitness between men and women cause a high proportion of female applicants to fail many entrance tests. The present review summarizes the impact on physical working capacity of commonly encountered gender differences in size, body composition, haemoglobin levels, and muscular strength. The principles applied in designing content- and construct-validity occupational fitness tests are described, and Human Rights policies are reviewed in the light of the Meiorin judgment. Criteria are indicated for establishing a bona-fide occupational fitness requirement, and description is given of the approach used in developing standards that satisfy these criteria. Requirements are based on the task to be accomplished. The potential training response of female applicants is likely at least to match that of their male peers, and the needs of female police recruits are thus best accommodated by providing every opportunity to augment fitness to the required minimum level. The main weakness of any current requirement is that most police forces do not yet apply an equivalent criterion to older incumbent officers, where similar issues may arise.