A press release from the Equal Opportunities Commission announcing the terms of settlement from the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) for full-time reservists. Under the Sex Discrimination (Northern Ireland) Order 1976, men and women had to treated equally in the workplace. Although the legislation applied to the RUC, policewomen, unlike their male colleagues, were not issued with firearms. Chief Constable Hermon believed that unarmed female officers were not suitable for front line policing in the RUC Reserve. He increased height requirements and cut hours of duty for reservists in an effort to reduce the number of female candidates. In 1980, Hermon decided not to renew full-time female officers’ contracts in order to recruit more men for armed security duties in the reserve. One full-time female reservist began proceedings against the RUC for sexual discrimination at an industrial tribunal. The tribunal decided there was a case to answer and the lawsuit went to the courts. In 1986, the European Court of Justice ruled that while it was legal for policewomen to be unarmed, they could not be treated differently. In 1987, 31 women received compensation and a further 300 former reservists shared in a £1 million financial settlement in 1988.

Equality legislation affected the role of women in the RUC throughout the 1980s. The number of female recruits increased and policewomen moved away from their traditional "specialist" duties of working with children and women to become more integrated into the force. The RUC Women Police Branch was phased out and the separate command structure and “woman” prefix to an officer’s rank was removed. In 1993, the chief constable announced that from April 1994, policewomen would be armed.