AN all-female team of urban management patrollers walking around the Dongmen commercial street in Luohu District has been a trending topic lately, oeeee.com reported.

Yan Bingbing, 25, is the leader of the patrol team. She used to work in a male-dominated team. “My male colleagues only needed us to lend a helping hand while meeting problems that they couldn’t resolve, such as handling female illegal hawkers,” Yan said. “Now we have to tackle everything.”

Yan worked as an instructor in primary and middle schools in Wuhan, Hubei Province after graduating from a police school. She joined the female patrolling team in March. Compared with male patrollers, female patrollers usually adopt a less aggressive and violent approach to dissuade violators, Yan said.

For example, to stop an e-bike violation she would use a gentle voice, saying that “Hey there. You are not allowed to ride here. Could you cooperate?” The violators are more likely to follow her instructions.

Dongmen business owners have expressed their curiosity with the female patrollers but were also concerned about their safety. “The young women might be in danger, if they encounter som street vendors who are hard to deal with,” said one businessman.

Two weeks ago, one of Yan’s colleagues got injured by a seller who refused to cooperate and squeezed the former’s arm with ropes.

Chen Xiaodong, another female patroller, admitted that they encounter numerous obstacles given Dongmen’s daily average customer flow of 200,000. They have to regulate unlawful behaviors, such as illegal stalls operating on the main roads. However, female law enforcement officers are less deterrent so both males and females have been deployed patrolling around certain roads.

Yan said that their duty is to maintain public order around Dongmen no matter how tough it is.

In addition, a patroller works eight hours and walks at least 20,000 steps outdoors every day. The scorching sun has left a mask-shape tan line on Yan’s face, which is recognized by colleagues as her “summer medal.”

Yan told the reporter that her parents are persuading her to change jobs. “I don’t like a sedentary job. I enjoy running and walking around,” she said.

Liao Meiying, a female patroller, was amazed by a female patroller one day and decided to shift her career from e-commerce business to urban management. “It takes time for my family to accept my choice,” Liao said. In spite of hardships, Liao said she will continue to move on.

The country’s first all-female urban management team was formed in Shenzhen in 2002. In recent years, more and more all-female teams have been founded across the country.

Although a majority of urban management officers are male, it is necessary to explore increasing the number of females in the job, oeeee.com reported. Yan said that it takes time to break the public’s stereotypes about women. (Xia Yuanjie)