For too long, Irish female law enforcers have been susceptible to condescending and sexist name calling.

A study by University College Cork found that attitudes towards female police officers are "currently changing as opposed to years ago" - however, women still remain under represented in the force.

While female officers told researcher Maureen O'Hara that they mostly did not feel their gender resulted in discrimination against them, let us not forget the inherent sexism they once faced.

In May 1958, Independent TD Frank Sherwin infamously stated in the Dáil that potential female officers "should not be actually horse faced, they should not be too good-looking; they should be just plain women and not targets for marriage”.

The same debate progressed to cover what potential females would wear.

A Fianna Fáil TD Honor Mary Crowley said that she hoped the “girls will be well turned out” and not “frumpish”. 

“I hope they will be smartly dressed, that their uniform will be smart and will look good," she said, pointing to the example of the Aer Lingus hostess uniforms.

Meanwhile Fianna Faíl’s Joseph Brennan maintained that he thought women would be a great addition to the force. Why?

"Women are reputed to be fairly good with the rolling-pin at times and they might be just as well able as a man to wield a baton."

Yes, this debate actually happened and these are actual quotes...... 

The first 12 female recruits, formerly known as Bean Gardaí or female guards, joined the Garda Síochána in July 1959. At present, there are over 3,500 women working in the force.

The term 'ban garda' is often seen as outdated: why is there a need to clarify the officer's gender at all? 

While the Twitter account for the Garda Road Policing is a more light hearted version of the official An Garda Síochána page, those behind the account took to the social network to share a serious message.

The Twitter page was inspired to come up with a list of terms that civilians should never use when being reprimanded by a female officer.

Take note:

Following a recent campaign by a UK force, we would like to educate drivers on addressing a female Garda should you be stopped by one.

These are NOT acceptable;
Love
Darling
Mate
Pal
Babe
Sweetheart
Sugartits
Sir
Lass
Ban Garda
Ban Guard
Banny

These are acceptable;
Garda
Guard

— Garda Road Policing (@Road_Policing) February 5, 2018