In the case of Mrs R Kalam v The Chief Constable of West Midlands Police a senior female firearms officer has won a sex discrimination and harassment case after being stripped down to her underwear during a police training course.
Detective Inspector Rebecca Kalam was told ‘just because you have t**s does not mean you cannot do a press up’ and forced to pose for a photoshoot when five months pregnant, an employment tribunal heard.
She was also made to be the ‘poster girl’ for the West Midlands Police firearms unit she worked at and told she would not pass the training course ‘if she did not agree to it’.
The whistleblower claimed last month that close protection officers for Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl shot by the Taliban, referred to her as ‘Tikka Masala’.
DI Kalam – who was one of only seven women in a unit with 250 men – complained about a ‘toxic and discriminatory’ culture in her unit. The 40-year-old said she had been left feeling ‘extremely uncomfortable’ by her male colleagues who also drew male genitalia on notice boards around the station.
The tribunal, held in Birmingham, heard Mrs Kalam joined the firearms unit in 2012 and was regularly subjected to sexist and derogatory language.
In March 2012 she was required to act as a ‘stooge’ in a mock training exercise, had her clothes cut off and was ‘stripped down to her underwear’ so first aid could be given.
The tribunal heard the scenario was based on a bullet hole on the top of the left breast which officers would then have to treat – which left her feeling ‘extremely uncomfortable’.
Later that month, while doing press ups, a male trainer pushed her neck down with his foot and said, ‘just because you have t**s does not mean you cannot do a press up’.
She complained that women were forced to use body armour and firearms kit designed for men and was even told to wear a compression bra to fit into the armour.
In December 2020 Mrs Kalam wasn’t allowed to attend assessment days for aspiring firearm officers before delaying her transfer to her new role at the Criminal Investigation Department in January 2021.
As part of the judgement, EJ Camp ordered that Mrs Kamal receive £3,000 in compensation ‘in respect of pain, suffering and loss of amenity for her claim for physical injury’.
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