WOMEN detectives appear to be struggling to progress to senior CID posts as they appear to be dropping out of the police department at an earlier stage in their careers.

Women account for just 29 per cent of officers north of the Border, but make up 35 per cent of detective constables, suggesting a bigger than average contribution to ground-level crime detection.

However, Police Scotland figures show only 10 per cent of detective superintendents and 13 per cent of detective chief superintendents are women.

This indicates that females are dropping out of CID at an earlier stage in their career.

The leaving rate for uniforms is also marked, but not so steep: 31 per cent of police constables are women but only 17 per cent of superintendents and 24 per cent of chief superintendents.

Jackie Muller, equalities officer at the Scottish Police Federation, suggested "positive action" to encourage females to stand for promotion.

She said: "You are not going to get supers with five or six experience. So you need older women to stay in the force.

"But once they have their family, because it is not made easy for them to stay in the force, they will go.

"We have less favourable maternity provision, difficulties working part time and flexible. That is why women are leaving and not climbing up through the ranks. They can't mix their family and being a police officer."

Women have failed to make headway in certain male-dominated parts of the policing, such as road traffic and armed response units.

But CID type work has proved far more fruitful.

Some sources suggest this is partly because some female officers are pigeon-holed in to detective roles where stereotypically women have been seen to thrive, such as rape and domestic abuse investigation.

However, there is also a strong view within policing that many women make good detectives - and not just in popular fiction.

The small number in leadership ranks has rankled with Ms Muller and her colleagues for years.

She said: "Clearly we don't want women promoted if they can't do the job but we need to assist them to see they can do the job. I think the force can do a lot more.

"The force need to do something about improving females in higher ranks and with positive action is something that is perfectly legal."

Staff associations have recently increased criticisms that cutbacks in middle and senior management have meant superintending ranks are under ferocious pressure.

Police Scotland has published figures showing that some progress has been made keeping women on. Women now account for 31 per cent of police recruits - lower than Ms Muller and others would hope. But they also only make up 20 per cent of leavers. That trend - if kept up - should help rebalance the force.

John Gillies, the force's head of human resources, in an official report to its ruling board, the Scottish Police Authority stressed equalities objectives.

He said: "While the ratio of female to male officers within

promoted posts varies across the whole rank spectrum, analysis of the recruit/leaver data displays progress in addressing gender imbalance, with a greater retention of female officers."