As I mentioned in my introduction blog, I am currently working in EMS and transitioning from pursuing a career in the fire service. In my time working in EMS I have worked alongside probably 5 or 6 different fire departments. The fire service is a very male dominant career path, and during my time I have probably only encountered 10 female firefighters… in 3 years, 6 departments, thousands of calls… 10 females, let that sink in. An article published in Work, Employment, & Society titled “Gender and the achievement of skilled status in the workplace: the case of women leaders in the UK Fire and Rescue service” noted that firefighters in the 20th century embodied certain traits of “gender, sexuality and ethnicity, being a white, working-class, masculine man, physically fit and physically oriented…” (Woodfield, 2015.)
The reading from this week listed two types of sexist ideologies: benevolent sexism (the belief that women should be taken care of) and hostile sexism (women are inferior to men). (Moran, Abramson & Moran, 2014). I believe the lack of females in the fire service to be of both ideologies. With the focus on physical fitness and masculinity in the fire service it is easy to see why people would propagate hostile sexism. Firefighting is a physically demanding profession and there are plenty of women AND men who are not physically able to perform the job.
Back to those 10 female firefighters… Each one of them were in some of the best physical shape I’ve ever seen, not just for a woman either. I’ve seen them pull hose, cut holes, and perform other essential firefighting operations right beside their male counterparts with little to no discernable differences. Most large departments in the US today have initiatives and recruitment and procuring more women for their department, for example The Los Angeles Fire Department hosts women’s seminars, training classes, and workouts tailored specifically to women and their future success in the fire service.
As long as more departments such as the LAFD take the initiative to host these events for women, we should see a steady increase of women in the fire service. There are a total of 1,160, 450 firefighters in the US as of 2015 and only 7.3% of them are female. With some work, we can do away with gender stereotyping and greatly improve the number of women in the fire service. (Haynes & Stein, 2017).
References:
Moran, R., Abramson, N. & Moran, S. (2014). Managing Cultural Differences. Oxford: Routledge.
Haynes, H. & Stein G. (2017) NFPA’s “U.S. Fire Department Profile – 2015”
Woodfield, R. (2015). “Gender and the achievement of skilled status in the workplace: the case of women leaders in the UK Fire and Rescue service” Work, Employment & Society Vol 30, Issue 2, pp. 237 – 255. https://doi-org.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/10.1177/0950017015573693
Interesting post. Do you know the data of applicants? Essentially are there several female applicants that for one reason or another don’t make it past selection, or is this a matter of the role has be cast as one which females don’t feel that they even have that opportunity in front of them? A close friend of mine is going through the Columbus, Oh fire department process. Apparently it is an incredibly coveted role to be a part of Columbus. Either way, the selection process blew my mind all that was involved. In addition this process has been going on for well over a year now which is also impressive.
Jordan,
I would probably say the split in gender stereotypes vs sexism is probably close to 50/50. More and more departments are moving towards a focus on diversity. With the surge in women’s camps, and doing recruitment at schools in more low income areas (talking LAFD specifically). I’ve heard through the rumor mill that some departments are trying to shift their staffing to be inline with the demographics of the communities they serve, for example… If the community was 60% white, 30% hispanic, 5% african-american and 5% mixed race or other, the department would be staffing and hiring in line with those percentages. If more departments in culturally diverse areas start to shift to a model such as that, there would be a much more diverse fire service which could, in theory, better serve the community.
Hi Bryan,
I wonder how much the lack of gender diversity in firefighting has to do with deep-rooted stereotypes in American society and what portion of comes from the systemic sexism in wanting to keep a more masculine force. I also was left wondering why fire departments, who do such an amazing emergency societal service, wouldn’t want to encourage more people from all kinds of diverse backgrounds to help. I live in Los Angeles as well and the recent fires were quite scary for the public. I know it can be dangerous work, but surely we as a society could do a better job of encouraging all people to help our communities when it comes to public services. I know plenty of women who are stronger and more capable than myself at performing some of these essential tasks, it is not one’s gender that allows them to be able to perform great feats or not. I just wanted to support your blog post and thank you for sharing your story and details about the profession. – and thanks for your public service to the fire department!
Respectfully,
Jordan