Woman police sergeant, eh? Well, at least it’s not a police sergeantess
timesofmalta.com told us this morning that a man was jailed for KICKING A WOMAN POLICE SERGEANT (that was the headline; the story repeats ‘woman police sergeant’ all the way through).
A police sergeant is a police sergeant is a police sergeant. It makes no difference whether the police sergeant is a man or a woman in the eyes of the law and in the eyes of the police force. The crime is assaulting a police officer, and no distinction is made between whether the police officer is a man or a woman.
I can’t believe I’m still writing this about The Times’s headlines after all these years. Perhaps I should repeat the rule of thumb for a whole new generation of reporters: if you wouldn’t say it’s a man, don’t say it’s a woman.
JAILED FOR KICKING A MAN POLICE SERGEANT.
There. See what I mean?
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And yet the Corps calls them WPC and WPS. Why’s that?
I think, actually, that the crime is more heinous when a woman is attacked – particularly if the assailant is a big man.
I therefore have to disagree with you on this one.
[Daphne – It isn’t. If you’re tough enough to be a police officer, you’re equal. The Malta Police Force has them down as WPC and WPS because they’re behind the times and the Equal Rights Commission or whatever it is hasn’t noticed yet. In the British police system on which ours is modelled, it’s PC Samantha Jones.]
OK, on the toughness bit you’re right.
But on the other bit – if the Maltese police corps makes a distinction between its male and female members, then the journalist was right to point it out. The fact that it’s behind the times is immaterial – be it for The Times as for other newspapers.
[Daphne – Not really. This was a law report, and the law doesn’t consider the gender of a police officer in terms of assault. You don’t get a tougher penalty for assaulting a police officer if that police officer happens to be a woman.]
You are right but the force here refers to them as WPC/ WPS then gets it right when they reach Police Inspector or Superintendant ranks.
Come on Daphne, we’re improving. Last week it would have been “Female Police Sergeant”.
In this case, I would actually prefer “Female”. Female is an adjective whereas “woman” is a noun. Somehow, using “woman” to denote gender seems the more popular choice, however it grates on my ears whenever I hear it.
I believe in the UK female police officers are also referred to as WPC or WPS.
But in Malta it is completely different. Policewomen are treated differently, and don’t ask me why.
Many policewomen are stationed in certain sections of the police force only.
Do we have policewomen in the SAG? We never did. Do we have policewomen in the Mobile Squad? We never did.
We all watch TV and during footballs matches abroad sometimes we see fights between supporters. We see the Police Riot Squad entering the scene to control the situation, and when sometimes they take off their helmets you realise that some of them are women. This is not the case in Malta.
Women in Malta are always defending their right to be treated equally as men, so this should be in all aspects of life.
As Daphne rightly stated a police sergeant is a police sergeant, no matter the gender. And this goes for all the ranks within the police force.
And again – http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120313/local/Only-44-women-councillors-in-a-sea-of-men.410878
At least they didn’t call her a “girl”.