often they are also unable to engage in productive economic activities and along with their dependent children elderly or sick under their care subsequently suffer from abject poverty and deprivation chapter marginalized by their community some women support polygamy in the oftenvain hope that it will offer protection for themselves and their children chapter recruitment practices often fail to reach out to pools of qualified and interested female candidates as is demonstrated by strikingly low rates of female participation within many of the institutions of the security sector including the police services and armed forces even when women do gain access they face considerable difficulties in coping with discrimination harassment and violence all of which pose formidable barriers to women s retention and promotion