India and Bangladesh have taken a lead in sending female police officers to serve in United Nations peacekeeping missions around the world as the world body aims to have 20 per cent women in its police force by 2040. <br/> <br/>In 2007, India sent the first contingent of women officers to serve in Liberia and has since then rotated this team thrice. On June 1, the government of Bangladesh deployed 260 police officers, many of them women, to serve in Haiti that suffered a devastating earthquake in January. <br/> <br/>In recent years, India has been pushing the UN to intensify recruitment of women in all its peacekeeping missions. <br/> <br/>A report says, women peacekeepers have played a significant role in helping women who have suffered from sexual and gender-based violence since these victims cannot share their experiences with male peacekeepers. <br/> <br/>Currently out of the 13,680 UN police serving in 17 missions, just 8.5 per cent are women.<br/>