Derbyshire Constabulary makes the '˜HeForShe' Pledge

The mission of ‘HeForShe’ is to promote the removal of cultural barriers that prevent females from fulfilling their potential and positively contributing to society.

Police officers, staff and officials - led by Police and Crime Commissioner Hardyal Dhindsa and Deputy Chief Constable Gary Knighton - have been signing the pledge in support of a gender equal world.

Hardyal Dhindsa said: “This year we celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of women’s right to vote. Yet the struggle to attain the equality which is their right didn’t end in 1918.

“As a society, we’ve made huge strides around equality since then, but there is still so much to do.

“I’m pleased that 49% of our overall workforce is women. This demonstrates that social change can occur, attitudes can shift and society can continue to strive for real equality of opportunity. But it won’t happen on its own.

“HeforShe will provide added impetus to our efforts to achieve complete equality. I firmly believe that the opportunities are there and I hope that people take them.”

Gary Knighton added: “We are working with the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner to actively promote International Women’s Day – and encouraging our officers and staff to sign the HeForShe pledge.

“We are committed as a force to being as representative as possible of the community we serve.

“From a gender equality perspective, we’ve setup a Gender Support Network internally and inaugurated a Springboard Development Programme for Women.

“We’ve hosted positive action events to encourage women into specialist posts and recently delivered a campaign raising menopause awareness throughout the force.

“These are procedural steps in the right direction. But more important than that is our overall culture and the message from the top of the organisation is loud and clear: the recruitment, retention and development of all employees is important to us, irrespective of their gender.”

To find out more about the HeForShe Campaign and to pledge your support, visit: www.heforshe.org