Considering that in 2022 there were reports concluding there was misogyny and racism in the London Fire Brigade, and misogyny in the Royal College of Nursing, and that one of the findings in the TUC report was:
‘‘The findings of this report remind us that racism remains a critical feature of workplace structures and culture and everyday working life for a significant number of people in this country …”
– is anyone surprised that the UK’s largest police force, the Met, have been found sexist and racist in the Baroness Casey review?
Met officers, we are told, are 82% white and 71% male, which does not accurately reflect London residents. The force has suffered as a consequence of the government’s commitment to austerity (its budget is 18% smaller than at the start of the last decade), and faces recruitment issues, retention issues, and institutional bias. It is also in desperate need of restructuring.
However, the problem lies not only with the force, but with the groups – and the approach to society – it represents: the MPs who flounce around London spreading judgement and discord, and the lawyers and media entities committed to division. That background is worth exploring.
‘Happy’ women’s day
According to recent comments by George Eustice, women ‘’have a natural nurturing role’’ and there should be ‘’incentives for young women to stay at home’’. Apart from the generalisation that women are nurturing, the implication that women – rather than men – should be carers, and the implication that women’s independence outside the home or their careers are insignificant, why is a male MP dictating what women want?
As much as we can debate the progress made in women’s rights – predominantly, in the case of the UK, while we were members of the European Union – the approach to gender equality, here and abroad, is still a complete shambles. Women’s voices are being oppressed by violence in Iran and Afghanistan, while in the USA and the UK women’s rights are being eroded.
The quality of debate doesn’t help. The 8 March was International Women’s Day, but arguments about what a ‘woman’ is appeared to be more prevalent than honouring women. Considering that Roberta Cowell became the first recorded transgender woman to have gender re-assignment surgery as long ago as 1951, it is difficult to comprehend what has changed in recent years to make the discussions around women’s rights (including transwomen’s rights) so volatile.
Piers Morgan added his views to the self-identification debate and asked why he couldn’t identify as a black lesbian, arguably taking the limelight from women on International Women’s Day:
Over in the USA, an International Women of Courage Award was presented to Alba Rueda (a transgender woman) by the White House, resulting in outrage and the accusation that Jill Biden was “erasing women”, despite this being just one of eleven awards. It is a fact that women – including transwomen – experience sexism, whatever the other arguments are.
Sexism
The Casey review highlighted that female police officers are not treated equally in the workforce. New female recruits are more likely to resign than other probationers. Of those who responded, 12% reported directly experiencing sexual harassment or assault and 33% had experienced sexism at work.
Lawyers are not treated equally either. In a 2021 report it was recorded that a high percentage of female solicitors had experienced sexual harassment. MPs have also experienced sexism from other members of parliament and the media.
As a lawyer for over 20 years, the following are examples from the Met review which in my experience also occur in the legal world:
“I’ve experienced being shut down in conversations by male counterparts, yet watching them hearing other male viewpoints. Tones towards me are lowered and patronising when I suggest ideas.”
“I have also heard jokes made by both male and female officers about how a female has got to where she is and who she slept with to be there.”
“Women are viewed as inferior and not truly belonging, being judged on looks and physical assets only.”
“The way women dress is spoken about and [it] is deeply uncomfortable.”
“He asked me a number of times whether I’d go out with him and I continually said ‘no’. Once it reached a crescendo [and] I told him where to go. He turned on me and for every job I set up… he made it his business to scupper my work.”
Women in every walk of life are held back because of their gender. In the legal profession, inequality can take the form of pressure to following particular career paths that suit antiquated ideals and includes the same casual sexism at work that women experience in other fields. As with some other professions, women barristers earn less than their male counterparts.
Yet, as in society generally, gender differences are only one form of inequality lawyers have to deal with. Research has also shown that barristers from ethnic minority backgrounds earn less than their white colleagues. It begs the question, if lawyers cannot achieve equality, what hope is there for anyone else?
Racism
21 March was the UN’s International Elimination of Racial Discrimination Day. In a speech to mark the occasion, Ilze Brands Kehris, UN assistant secretary-general for human rights, said, “Racism persists because of fear, including of losing dominance and power, and has taken contemporary expression in the rise of populism and xenophobia”.
Last year race hate crimes passed 100,000 in England and Wales for the first time since records commenced. In 2016, two newspapers – the Daily Mail and The Sun – were accused of fuelling prejudice. Since then, the Daily Mail has been criticised for the different ways it treated footballers of different racial origin, and for labelling towns no-go areas for white people, along with other examples of difference in treatment.
The effects of prejudice are felt even in parliament. In a 2020 study by ITV, 62% of MPs who responded said they faced “racism or racial profiling” while on the parliamentary estate, with 51% saying they had experienced this from other MPs.
Direct quotations from the Casey report
It is against this background that Baroness Casey’s report into the Met must be read:
‘’We heard of bags of urine being thrown at cars, male officers flicking each other’s genitals, dildos being put in coffee mugs, lockers being emptied or covered in evidence tape, and an animal put in an officer’s locker.’’
“I have seen ethnic minority officers, women & men being undermined in front of others, ridiculed, cut out of conversations, [and] spoken down to by others at training.”
“There have been a number of incidents where baptised [Sikh] officers are picked on. One officer had his beard cut because an officer thought it was funny.’’
“I found bacon left in my boots inside my locked locker. I was horrified but kept an open mind as to who this could be. I was hoping to identify who the culprit was and take appropriate action. I didn’t want to be branded a person who played the race card and out of fear of reprisals did not tell anyone at the time.”
Group bullying, targeting officers based on their race or religion (and sexual preferences), and backlash if the victims dare speak up – the report shows that The Met is no longer fit for purpose. It confirms the sense of public distrust caused by high profile cases such as the murder of Sarah Everard, and the investigation into the death of Stephen Lawrence, which led to the Macpherson report. As Baroness Lawrence, Stephen’s mother, has said, the Met Police is still “rotten to the core” 30 years after her son was murdered and the force was found to be institutionally racist.
The Casey report is not enough
There is little point in inquiries and reports if they are largely ignored and the status quo remains. Neither will faith be restored in any force that keeps officers on the front line who have been accused of domestic violence and sexual assault or do not face consequences for their actions.
The time for change is now. Every human being deserves to be treated equally and with respect, regardless of their ethnic origin, gender, religious beliefs, sexual preferences, age or disabilities. But that change starts with lawyers challenging their peers, MPs committing to a country where our differences are not used to divide us (or resigning if they won’t), and a police force that has the maturity to remove poor quality officers and provide the public with officers they can trust with their lives, bodies and with each other in their workplaces.
Note: 31 March is International Transgender Day of Visibility
