itish Isles and the United States. There could be a number of explanations for this. The role and working status of women in former communist regimes might have resulted in greater equality which had to be won by political lobbying and legislation in the West. In this case it would be expected that differences are due to incidence rates of discrimination and harassment. An alternative explanation could be that incidence rates are constant and the difference is attributable to the tolerance thresholds and levels of awareness of police women on the one hand and to the development of anti discriminatory policies on the other hand. Thus in the West, and more particularly in the United States, the women's movement and feminist consciousness raising have given women tools of analysis and heightened awareness of behaviour that is considered discriminatory. Equal opportunities legislation and policy implementation has progressively greater enforcement power across Europe and into America. The introduction of equal opportunities law can resurrect policemen's resistance to women officers and result in renewed attempts by policemen to exclude their women colleagues from the full range of duties and employment benefits. As women move out of their segregated status of specialist roles and departments the informal relationships between men and women at work may deteriorate as women increasing take on previously exclusive male roles and responsibilities. As policing in Eastern Europe develops equal opportunities policies then there are likely to be at least two consequences. Women may change their tolerance thresholds in terms of being restricted in job opportunities and men are likely to increase their resistance to the even diffusion of women throughout the organisation. Lessons from the West would seem to indicate that resistance, discrimination, harassment and then reform are inevitable. Awareness of these processes may only serve to foreshorten t...
