Cape Town - Former top cop Lieutenant-General Sharon Jewphta was invited as a guest speaker to this year's 61st IAWP annual training conference in Chicago, where she voiced concerns about the ongoing gender inequalities in the police forces of the world and in South Africa.
Jephta, who is retired, was part of more than 160 police agencies from across the world who attended the International Association of Women Police (IAWP) gathering. The event was last hosted in Durban in 2013, in which Jephta also took part.
The role of the association is to strengthen and unite and raise the capacity of women in the police around the world and was formed in 1915 by a Californian policewoman, Alice Stebbins Wells, who was one of the first women in law enforcement.
During her presentation this week, Jephta, who has more than 40 years experience in the police and retired in 2019, shared her wealth of experience with female officers from all over the world, explaining how she was treated in the boardroom or in the field.
Jephta carried out a poll, asking women how they were treated in the police and what barriers they faced because they were female to which they responded that they had been undermined intellectually and physically by their male colleagues, faced sexual harassment, being told they were too weak to handle their job and that their workspace and uniforms were not women-friendly.
Last year, Jephta launched her book called “ Integrity, Commitment and Excellence” which told of her life as a female police officer.
Jephta was the first female police officer stationed at Manenberg Police Station at the tender age of 18.
She also has served in various capacities, serving as the Divisional Commissioner: Inspectorate, Divisional Commissioner to Acting Deputy Provincial Commissioner: Detective Service and many others including crime intelligence.
She even faced being dismissed from the police because she had lost her virginity, as if it was a compulsory criteria for a police woman to be a virgin.
Speaking with the Weekend Argus from California, Jephta said she was not talking to the police but to the women in policing.
“I spoke about a gender responsive approach to operations specifically looking at barriers in which women are experiencing and giving women guidance on how to overcome it by using my experience,” she explained.
“I also advised agencies as to what they can do to overcome those barriers. We hosted it in 2013 in Durban and it was the biggest IWAP and we were over 2 000 that attended from all over the world.
“I spoke about the fact women are still being shut down in boardrooms, it is not just in the police.
“I spoke about my experience of being in the boardroom but not being heard and my experience of the uniform that was designed for men and hindered women during operations.
“There were eight senior promotions recently in South Africa and only one was a woman.
“I am outside the police now but we are opening the equality gap again.”
Jephta said she would not remain silent on the inequalities of women in the police and was watching closely whether women were moving up in the ranks and if they were being placed in the correct department where they would best service the community, such as in gender-based violence cases.
“Although the police might look good, there are 27 police Lieutenant Generals, 11 of which are females, which is good,” she added.
“They will say they have 40% of women in the police but where are those women, how many are involved in operations, how many are station commanders, branch commanders and in visible policing, and if there is a balance, it will make a difference to service delivery?
“We have a big problem with gender-based violence in the country, and you need to have women at the forefront, in those posts to lead those cases but they are not there.”.
Kamogelo Mogotsi, spokesperson for Minister of Police, Senzo Mchunu told Weekend Argus inequalities in the police was one area that was being looked at nationally and the focus on the gender-based violence approach.
“Promotions in the SAPS are guided by the applicable policies and overseen by the National Commissioner as the Head of Department,” she said.
“The Ministry is in discussion with the Ministry of Social Development to explore possible areas of cooperation, particularly with regards to cases of GBV.
“There are a number of social factors that require a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach, which will ultimately benefit the citizens and we are implementing that approach as we fight crime.”
Jephta’s talk comes as Professor Ameeta Jaga of the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) School of Management Studies carried out her inaugural lecture titled “Balancing Acts: Mothering, Womanhood, and Employment,” which explored the complexities of motherhood in the workplace and the impact of gendered norms on working mothers, particularly those from low-income backgrounds.
Velisile Bukula, UCT’s communications officer said Professor Jaga’s research draws from her personal experiences and challenges what she describes as “masculine workplace norms.
“Her work is rooted in feminist methodologies, particularly photovoice, and aims to achieve epistemic justice by advocating for more inclusive workplace policies,” she said.
“Central to her research is the need for better support systems for breastfeeding mothers and policies that address care work burdens, often referred to as ‘the Motherload.’ ”