The Greek Police (ELAS) has been told not to hire any extra women officers by Greece’s highest administrative court, which ruled that men were better are fulfilling the force’s tasks.

In a decision yesterday, the Council of State said that only 15 percent of recruits going through the police academy should be women. Some 2,800 women currently serve in the police force — out of a total of 42,848 officers (6.5 percent) — and the court said this figure was high enough.

Explaining its ruling, the court said that the limit was justified because of the nature of police work. According to the court, this demands “a high level of physical fitness and muscular strength, speed, endurance, a large degree of courage and composure — qualities in which men are superior to women.”

The court said that policemen are often called on to confront violent situations and catch dangerous criminals, and that women could not be asked to do this “because of the well-known biological differences.”