Feminist Formations

Theoretical models of how policewomen have emerged in modern nation-states—from segregated policewomen's units to full integration—were built without theoretical or empirical contributions derived from the experiences of policewomen in Arab/ Muslim countries. Meaningful analytics for how societies allow for female police, and whether these officers serve in integrated units with policemen, cannot be divorced from a description of cultural process. In particular, the emergence of modern policewomen in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries has important cultural and social meaning that challenges the dominant notions of women and policing in academic discourse. Using postcolonial and comparative feminist theory, this article challenges dominant theories within the discourse on policewomen, taking a critical approach to the identity politics that fuels the gender-related rhetoric of "us vs. them."Any new, culturally specific model should not necessarily exhibit a zero-sum game of either segregation or integration; both can be operating simultaneously in the same historical moment as legitimate and coherent policy given particular social, political, and cultural contexts, as the GCC example suggests.