- Title: ALGERIA: Women police defy stereotypes to join force
- Date: 11th August 2009
- Summary: ALGIERS, ALGERIA (AUGUST 6, 2009) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF NEWLY GRADUATING POLICEWOMEN (CADETS) / STANDING TO ATTENTION ON PARADE GROUND OF POLICE TRAINING ACADEMY VARIOUS OF CADETS MARCHING ON PARADE GROUND GROUP OF FAMILY MEMBERS WATCHING THE CADETS MARCHING / SOME FAMILY MEMBERS ULULATE / OTHERS TAKE PHOTOS AND FILM THE NEW GRADUATES ROWS OF CADETS MARCHING OFFICIALS WATCH THE PROCESSION REAR VIEW OF FAMILY TAKING PICTURES OF THE PROCESSION OFFICIAL REPRESENTATIVES WATCHING PARADE CADETS MARCHING SENIOR OFFICIALS AMONG OFFICIALS WATCHING THE PARADE SALUTE THE CADETS (TWO WOMEN AMONGST SENIOR OFFICERS) OFFICIALS WATCHING PARADE, INCLUDING NATIONAL SECURITY DIRECTOR-GENERAL COLONEL ALI TOUNSI CADETS SWEAR OATH OF ALLEGIANCE VARIOUS OF MARTIAL ARTS DEMONSTRATION VARIOUS FEMALE SENIOR OFFICERS WATCHING THE DEMONSTRATION CADETS ASSEMBLE FIREARMS AS PART OF DEMONSTRATION OF WEAPONS HANDLING VARIOUS OF CADETS DEMONSTRATING ABILITY IN HANDLING AND FIRING PISTOLS AND MACHINE GUNS TOUNSI AWARDING DIPLOMA (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) COLONEL ALI TOUNSI, NATIONAL SECURITY DIRECTOR-GENERAL, SAYING: "The police are progressing well in the republic. The role of the Algerian woman is to help build and defend the country, in all activities, official or not, amongst the citizens." OFFICIALS STANDING FOR PHOTOGRAPH CADETS MARCH, HOLDING FLAGS AND SINGING VARIOUS OF CADETS HUGGING MEMBERS OF THEIR FAMILIES (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) AMINA ZEMIRI, 23 YEAR-OLD CADET SAYING: "I am very happy I became a policewoman because this is what I wanted. We love our country and respect the police, this is why we enrol." CADETS HUG ONE ANOTHER AND FAMILY MEMBERS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) WAFA KACHABIA, 23-YEAR OLD CADET SAYING: "My job is to preserve the security, the peace and the serenity of the country and to defend it." CADET HUGS A FAMILY MEMBER (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) WAFA KACHABIA, 23-YEAR OLD CADET SAYING: "In the police, there is no difference between women and men. They work together on the ground." (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SALIHA BOUZIDI, 52-YEAR OLD MOTHER OF CADET SAYING: "The woman is the basis of the family and she is the one who sacrifices everything. Today my daughter honoured me." VARIOUS OF NEW FEMALE POLICE OFFICERS WITH THEIR FAMILIES
- Embargoed: 26th August 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Algeria
- Country: Algeria
- Topics: Police
- Reuters ID: LVA3K3LNOO1N6YSUNOLKQCV87PK4
- Story Text: Wearing differently coloured head-scarves and robes, but identical smiles, dozens of Algerian mothers watched their daughters graduate from a police training academy in the Algerian capital, Algiers, on Thursday (August 6).
No doubt most were worried by their daughters' choice of career. Even in relatively liberal Algeria, some people believe the police force is not a suitable profession for a Muslim woman, and, whatever your gender, it can be a dangerous job: Islamist insurgents have killed hundreds of officers.
But it was pride and not fear that was the predominant emotion on display as around 500 female cadets displayed skills that included firing blank rounds from sub-machine guns and dismantling then re-assembling firearms in under 30 seconds.
Relatives of the cadets ululated and clapped while a group of young women, dressed in dark blue overalls and heavy boots, hurled each other to the ground in a demonstration of their hand-to-hand fighting skills.
In many parts of the Arab world, where conservative attitudes to the role of women in society are widespread, scenes like this would be unthinkable.
But Algeria, a former French colony in North Africa where almost all the 35 million population are Muslim, takes pride in the fact that equality for women is enshrined in its laws.
Officials say that this is a legacy of its struggle for independence, when women guerrillas fought alongside men against French troops, and when ideas about equality were shared with other left-wing liberation movements in Cuba and elsewhere.
In practice, social norms mean Algerian women do not have complete freedom: many people consider it inappropriate, for example, for a woman to smoke in public.
Many of the female police officers who left the academy will take up office jobs or be assigned to directing traffic. Few will go into front-line roles.
Nevertheless, Algeria's police are working toward full equality, said Ali Tounsi, National Security Director-General and head of the national police force:
"The role of the Algerian woman to help build and defend the country, in all activities," he said.
Asked about attitudes that women should stay at home and raise children, he told Reuters that was in the past.
New policewoman Wafa Kachabia, said that change had spread to the force too: "In the police, there is no difference between women and men. They work together on the ground."
Algeria's National Security Department has decided to increase police numbers to bring down the country's high crime rate. While presently the ratio of officers to citizens is 1:400, the objective is to improve this figure. The addition of the 492 newly graduated female cadets goes some way to achieving this aim.
Inside the academy building, a roll of honour carries the names and photographs of 25 women officers who have died in the line of duty -- most of them in the 1990s when the conflict between the government and Islamist militants was at its height.
But for those present at the graduation ceremony, it was not the place to voice those concerns.
Fifty-two year old mother, Saliha Bouzidi, said simply: "The woman is the basis of the family and she is the one who sacrifices everything. Today my daughter honoured me."
The violence has subsided now and women officers are rarely targeted. That does not mean though that the cadets who graduated on Thursday will be out of the firing line.
Islamist insurgents affiliated to al Qaeda still mount regular ambushes and bomb attacks on security forces. In the latest major attack, at least 14 soldiers died last week when their convoy was ambushed, local media reported. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
