Tonga’s Women and Children Crisis Centre has run a workshop for 28 police recruits on treating women better.
Superintendent Ashley Fua said police working in the field were being hindered by gender bias.
He said the course focussed on fairness, equity and equality and how they treat women.
It looked at attitudes towards Tongan culture and attitudes towards women.
“There’s an opportunity at the early start of their career that we’re able to make those changes and influence how they see men and women and how that will impact on how they deliver their services.”
Mr Fua said it was a bigger challenge to change the attitudes of older police, but more training was planned.
However, gender inequality also exists inside the force, which has 166 female members.
The conference was told some female officers were scared of reporting incidents to high ranking police in case they lost their job.
They were also scared of being mocked at work.
It is understood that the issue is happening at the Tonga Police but some are scared to report it due to ranking and authorities, scared of losing her job and scared of being mocked at work.
The main points
- Tonga’s Women and Children Crisis Centre has run a workshop for 28 police recruits on treating women better.
- Superintendent Ashley Fua said police working in the field were being hindered by gender bias.
