Leadership and promotional challenges for women in the RCMP

The study investigates systemic barriers to women's leadership advancement in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) following the initiation of gender equity reforms in 2013. With a transformative worldview and qualitative secondary methodology, the study integrates peer-reviewed studies, RCMP policy documents, and government reports (2013–2024) to identify entrenched inequities. Evidence suggests that compliance-focused policies like Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) fail to account for cultural resistance rooted in hegemonic masculinity underlying biased promotion procedures, work-life conflicts, and exclusionary networks. Institutional practices, such as mandatory mobility policies and subjective cultural fit assessments, disproportionately penalize women caregivers and reward masculine leadership traits. The study criticizes the RCMP's incremental reform approach, demonstrating how performative allyship and tokenistic mentorship initiatives reinforce structural inequalities. Recommendations are centered on transformative action, including intersectional policy redesign, cultural audits, and promotion demographics accountability mechanisms. By advocating for institutional unlearning of gendered norms and the incorporation of equity into operational decision-making, this study offers a roadmap for reimagining leadership meritocracy in policing. The findings reinforce the necessity to deconstruct patriarchal and colonial hierarchies to foster a diverse organizational culture where various leadership styles are welcomed.