I'm a male, white, retired lieutenant so I don't know if I'm the best person to answer some of the questions you have but here we go. Promotions: sergeant, lieutenant and captains tests are every two years or so. I studied two hours a day for about five months to pass. I never took the captain's test. If you're a good student and put in the time you should be successful. You don't have to work more hours if your a sergeant or lieutenant but it happens. Some assignments are overtime heavy but you can pretty much avoid them if you want to. I'm not a woman or Asian but I know enough to know I would not let either of those things stop me for a second if this is what I wanted to do. They're plenty of women in the job and Asians are not really that rare. There's a Jade Society in the NYPD. You can check out their website. It's an Asian fraternal group. Police work can be tough on family life but people do the best they can. What I would recommend: Take the test. You have nothing to lose but a few hours of your time. There's no commitment beyond that initially. It takes a good while to get hired so get the clock running. Seek out female cops and talk to them. Stop by your local precinct and talk to one. If you see one in the street ask if you could speak to her. They don't bite. They just look like they do. If they're unfriendly move on to the next one. Most cops will talk to you and answer your questions. One thing I learned in life is that most people love to talk about themselves and what they do. You could do the same with Asian cops. The 5th Precinct usually has a good number but that's not the only place. Think of it as your first investigation. Just remember when you talk to cops on uniformed patrol that that's only one facet of the job. I wish you the best in whatever you do.