Number of women in police training falls

31 July 2025

The number of women in police training is declining. In 2020, 32 per cent of students at Belgium's police academies were women, but last year that fell to 26 per cent.

In some training programmes, the number of women fell by almost half. Namur’s academy saw a fall from 40 per cent to 23 per cent. The data was requested by CD&V MP Franky Demon from Interior minister Bernard Quintin and reported by De Standaard.

“Citizens must be able to identify with their police force,” criminologist Sofie De Kimpe of VUB told the newspaper. “The trust and legitimacy of our police services depend on it.”

Diversity charter

Within the federal police, women are more represented in logistical and policy positions. In the resource management and information department – which includes IT, HR and logistics – almost half of the staff are women.

"Citizens must be able to identify with their police force. The trust and legitimacy of our police services depend on it"

There are also many more women working in administrative and support roles than in operational services, which involve field work. In general, women find it difficult to progress to senior management within the force.

In a response to De Standaard, the federal police said it had signed the government’s Diversity Charter and was working to promote diversity in the workplace.

Cultural evolution

“There is more than enough research showing that organisations perform better when they are more diverse,” police chief Maria De Sterck of the Hamme-Waasmunster zone told the newspaper. She is one of 20 female police chiefs in Belgium, out of a total of 184, and chair of Womenpol, the Belgian network of women police officers.

“A larger number of women in the police force can also mean an important cultural evolution, from a macho culture to a service-oriented culture with an eye for people,” she said.

^{Police cadets at a training centre in Bastogne during a visit from Interior minister Bernard Quintin, February 2025 © BELGA PHOTO NATACHA FREISEN}

Related news