Brief Report on the Issues Faced by Women Police in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP)

Fida Muhammad
Women police own their existence to the Women’s Political & Social Union of
Great Britain when WPSU agreed to the decision to give full support to the British
war effort during the First World War by founding the women police volunteers in
September 1914 that was renamed as Women Police Service in 1915.
The British government had always opposed the idea of women police but with
large number of policemen joining the Army, it was considered a good idea to have
women volunteers to help run the service who were willing to work without pay. By
1918 there were 357 members of the WPS. During the same year Margaret Damer
Dawson, the Commandant and Allen, the Sub-Commandant of WPS asked the
Chief Commissioner, Sir Nevil Macready, to make them a permanent part of his
force. He refused, saying that the women were “too educated” and would “irritate”
male members of the force. Macready instead decided to recruit and train his own
women force. However, both Dawson and Allen were awarded the OBE for services
to their country during wartime.