GENDER EQUALITY IN EUROPEAN POLICING: INSTITUTIONAL BARRIERS AND POLICY MODELS

This article examines institutional barriers to gender equality in European policing and identifies opportunities to use relevant experience to improve the gender policy of the National Police of Ukraine. It analyzes international and European legal standards of equality, as well as the specific features of the national gender policy models in Sweden, Germany, France, and Poland. The article identifies the key factors limiting equal professional opportunities for women and men in law enforcement agencies, including gender stereotypes, occupational segregation, lack of transparency in personnel decisions, unequal access to career advancement, difficulties in reconciling professional duties with family responsibilities, and the insufficient effectiveness of mechanisms for combating discrimination. The need for a comprehensive assessment of gender equality at the regulatory, organizational, and outcome levels is substantiated. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the development of an original comparative matrix comprising six groups of criteria: legal and regulatory, institutional and organizational, personnel representation, professional and career development, protection against discrimination and accountability, and outcome-oriented and functional criteria. The proposed matrix makes it possible to systematize national practices and identify gaps between formal guarantees and their practical implementation. Priority areas for improving gender policy in Ukraine are identified, including transparent recruitment and promotion procedures, monitoring of personnel indicators, the development of mentoring, and improvements to mechanisms for responding to discrimination and harassment. The article emphasizes the need for further empirical validation of the proposed matrix, taking into account the specific conditions under which law enforcement agencies operate during martial law.