Gender & Law Enforcement: Special Interest Group

The Gender & Law Enforcement Special Interest Group explores local and international issues to advance progress towards achieving UN Sustainable Development Goals 5 (Gender equality) and 16 (Peace, justice & strong institutions), including how to maximise the role of women in policing and provide gender responsive services. The group aims to be interactive and an exchange of learning from Global North and Global South and would be of interest to police, researchers, civil society representatives, service providers, government representatives and people with lived experience of the theme.

Objectives of the Gender & Law Enforcement Special Interest Group:

1. To better understand the connections between law enforcement and public health to promote gender equality and eliminate violence against women
2. To highlight the importance of embedding gender responsive and public health approaches across all areas of policing, government and community services
3. To build a supportive network to develop research, practice and collaborative leadership across LEPH issues to promote gender equality and eliminate violence against women (GLEPHA Special Interest Group (SIG) on gender)

Previous activities include a Special Lunchtime Session at LEPH2018 in Toronto, and a two-day consultation on Gender in public health and safety: addressing the needs of women as employees and clients in criminal justice at LEPH2019 in Edinburgh.

If you would like to contribute to planning or participating in the consultation to be held in conjunction with the 6th Law Enforcement & Public Health Conference in Philadelphia, March 2021 contact Melissa or Janine below.

In general, the Gender & Law Enforcement SIG invites expressions of interest to lead, co-ordinate and engage in activities, please contact:

Dr Melissa Jardine 
(melissa.jardine@gmail.com) 

Dr Melissa Jardine is on the GLEPHA Board of Directors and Gender Advisor for the Centre for Law Enforcement & Public Health. She is the Regional Research Lead to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and UN Women in relation to gender, policing, border control and transnational crimes in ASEAN. The project includes a research collaboration with INTERPOL.

Melissa was a Victoria Police officer for 10 years (2001-2011) working at the frontline and in criminal investigations and is a current member of the Strategic Planning Committee for the International Association of Women Police (IAWP). In Victoria Police, she worked in general duties, criminal investigations, the Asian Squad (disbanded), drug task forces and trained as an undercover operative. In 2005, she was the recipient of a scholarship to study Vietnamese in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, from the Victorian Multicultural Commission while working for Victoria Police and is noted as a ‘Major Event’ of 100 years of women in policing in Victoria.

Melissa has written and delivered a range of international police training packages regarding HIV prevention, harm reduction approaches to drug use and sex work, and police-public health leadership. 

She has a long term interest in the development of policing and security in Asia and completed her PhD on policing in Vietnam at the UNSW Law School. She is featured by UNSW Sydney as an example of an ‘outstanding higher degree researcher and alumni’. In 2017, Melissa was selected as an Asia 21 Young Leader by the Asia Society through a competitive process which identifies ‘dynamic individuals who will impact global affairs over the coming decades’.

Janine Ewen
(janine.ewen@gmail.com)

Janine Ewen, a member of the GLEPHA Gender Special Interest Group, is a Public Health professional committed to supporting marginalised communities on a local, national and international level. Brought up in the North East of Scotland, she supported several community-led projects and local charities that help women, young people and children, including Grampian Women’s Aid.

Janine has a number of qualifications including a BSc (Hons) and an MSc. She recently completed additional study of Criminology for which she received a Distinction. Her main areas of expertise and interest include violence against women, the sex industry, organised crime, feminist criminology and helping young people have more of a voice in public debates.

Her interest in policing started as a child with direct experience of the Police Service Northern Ireland (PSNI) in relation to domestic abuse. At a young age, Janine moved to Scotland with her mother and brother, and lived for a time in a woman's refuge.

Janine has supported the Law Enforcement and Public Health Network by presenting at their conferences, developing consultation work on the policing of vulnerable populations, and helping to establish and co-facilitate Scotland's first gender, safety and harm reduction programme. With a background of working on community health projects, she is currently acting as project support on a health needs assessment for a peer-led charity for sex workers in Grampian.