Final Post.... Maybe

For this last post I just wanted to express the ideas behind the creation of this blog. This profession is very special to me for a few reasons. I come from a history of firefighters in my family, I have been raised in this “firefighter” type family, and I believe that the men and women that have a firefighting career are very special and brave. This is why I hate to see or hear about incidents were fellow firefighters are being mistreated.
There is no reason for women to be mistreated anywhere, and the fire department is no exception. These women put their life on the line to try and save lives just like their male co-workers do. There is no difference between them except that they are labeled differently because of their genders. Every time I think that we have come so far as a society, I hear about another instance of the barriers that women face in this profession and it is clear to me that we still have a long way to come yet. The barriers that women have been subject to within this profession are barriers that should be lifted and issues that should be erased. No men have to face these some obstacles; so why should women?
I just hope that for those of who that have read my blog over this fall, that you have gained some knowledge and that I was able to shed some light on issue that you were probably not familiar with previous to this blog. The only way to try and make a change is to inform people of what is going on, and through this blog I feel successful in trying to make a change. We are well into the 21st century; isn’t it about time that women start getting treated fairly?

Story that is close to home

For this post I have decided to talk a little about the qualities that it takes to be a firefighter. Or maybe not that so much but the qualities, that seem to be important to various fire departments around the country. I will share with you an occasion that just recently occurred with some people that I know and I should say that I am surprised this happened, by I’m not.
A friend of min recently went out to try and get hired by a local fire department; I will leave the station out of this article. He applies for the job and so do approximately 60 others, at least ten of which he said was female. They hire the top 20 from the testing process of the 60. No women got hired for the job. You may be thinking that maybe the women were not qualified; they were. My friend told me that they belonged there just as much as he did.
The other issue is that my friend got hired over all of these women and he got convicted of arson when he was a junior in high school. Not to talk badly of this guy, but as a fire department don’t you think you should hire people that have a background of putting out fires and not starting them? I thought this was very relevant to what I have been trying to inform people about this year with my blog.

Relevant Blog

I was able to find a blog that was relevant to the issue and central focus of my own blog. The blog that I looked at had a background of writing about several barriers that women face, but also just is a place for a woman to have her voice heard. Sometimes being able to be heard is the most important thing emotionally because sometimes it is necessary to speak your mind.
The blog had two posts about woman and the firefighting profession. The first post had to deal with a woman who was fired from her job because other members of her station told the battalion chief that she was driving the ladder truck erratically. When the story is heard in full length it sounds ridiculous and the overall agreement from people that read this story is that the woman should have never been fired. Also, there was a second post with regards to a transgendered firefighter. This highlighted the struggles that she was having within the department as many of her fellow firefighters were not supportive to what she was doing.
This blog is focused around the idea and belief that women area equal to men, and because of this they should be treated equal. Like I had said earlier it’s nice that people can speak their mind sometimes that can be the biggest stress reliever. Not to mention that it is giving these individuals the support that they need as it is apparent that they are not getting any support at work. You can see this post and others at http://ohioemploymentlaw.blogspot.com/feeds/4942632609084182757/comments/default.

NYFD Woman Faces Setback

Adrianne Walsh is a female firefighter with the NYFD. She has many credentials and is very qualified to be where she is today. She was with the fire department through the attacks of September 11 and has dedicated her services to the city. However, despite all of the time she has given and things she has done she still faces much prejudice within the department.
Recently she was transferred to one of the highest regarded stations in the city. The transfer was what she had wanted for a long time, and finally had accomplished another thing that she had been striving for. However, when she arrived to work for the station she was ostracized. Her fellow firefighters treated with no respect as they felt they did not need women around them when they went to work. The men on her shift did not feel safe having her there as they said she was “inadequate” to perform her duties. They prejudice got bad enough to the point that Walsh ended up putting in for a transfer out of that station within a very short time.
It is issues like these that are still occurring that still show the distance that the fire fighting profession still needs to go. These issues of women and the workplace should not be happening like this. She is a qualified person for the job and so she should be able to do so. Not only is it bad that this station is ostracizing her in this way, but the department is not doing anything to control this and be at her side. These are the exact issues as to why I am writing about this topic as these occurrences need to cease for the betterment of the profession.

The Link to this story is http://cms.firehouse.com/web/online/News/Slow-Progress--Dismaying-Setbacks-as-Women-Try-to-Expand-Foothold-in-Firefighting-Ranks-/46$42177

New Cheifs Far and Local

Recently there have been a couple of advancements of women in fire stations around the country. This news story is very relevant as one of the promotions actually happened in my home state of Washington. These promotions show the progression that is vital to fire stations around the country and also gives hope to women around the country that risk their lives everyday on the job.
Bonnie Cremer and Ruth Obadal have recently been hired as fire chiefs of their fire departments. These promotions are a good thing that shows hard work can pay off. Bonnie Cremer was hired as a Fire Chief in Illinois. Ruth Obadal was recently hired as the Fire Chief for the Puyallup, Washington fire department. They both are very qualified for these positions. With these promotions women are able to prove their worth to the fire department and are finally getting the respect that they deserve.
This article portrays these women as very experienced firefighters that have been in the service for many years. The advancement of women in the fire department is a very important aspect to showing the diversity with this profession. New ideas and management roles are being brought to the table with these women heading up these given departments and will show other departments new strategies for running the departments.

I was not able to imbed the link to the story but the address is http://www.i-women.org/in_the_news.php?piece=54

Important Video

I chose this video because I feel it is very important to the ideas that I am trying to get across. Women need to be involved in emergency services and with this video it shows the positives to the profession that these individuals have chosen. The interviews are very insightful and meaningful while showing a good side to the job.
For most of my posts I have been sharing the problems that women face inside of the firefighting profession. This post I wanted to change the tone and let the viewers understand that there also is a great side to becoming a female firefighter. These interviews show women and how they have come into the job and the great experiences they have. The video itself also talks about other minorities involved in firefighting and how happy they are with the decisions they have made.
In conclusion I feel that it is important to show both the good and the evil to a given subject as not to create a bias and to give every opinion a chance. This video is what my blog needed so that women do not fear going into emergency services and see that there is good with becoming a firefighter and there are women that are very happy in their profession. Women deserve their chance in the emergency services and hopefully more will come out for these jobs.

I was not able to upload the video but the address for it is http://www.fire2020.org/WhyIChoseV.html

www.i-women.org

For this post we are asked to find a relevant website to our topic. For my website I chose www.i-women.org. This website is very relevant to the topic that I discuss. They deal with women in emergency services and touch on important topics in regards to women in the emergency services field of work.
The website covers major issues surrounding women in the fire department among other things. Some of the issues they talk about are the barriers that women face in this field. Their goal is the progress of women in these services and to see them treated like they should be; as equals. Their website is very informative and always backed with accurate percentages.
A couple of entries that this website has are the issues icon. If you click on this link you are taken to a page those talks about all of the issues that are important to women in the fire services. Talking everywhere from the dangers that women face, institutional barriers, and specific court cases that show progression for women in the workplace are all topics within the site. For example, one of the cases they showed was about a Los Angeles woman who sued the department she worked for because of harassment. She ended up winning the case and showed that women could be heard and should stand up for themselves.
All in all I support this website because it is very informative and gives me a better look at women in the fire fighting career. I get a good amount of my information from this sight and hopefully others will as well, so we can put an end to this discrimination.

"Recrutiment"

Many people within a given fire department throw the word recruitment around and don’t necessarily know all that this encompasses. They feel as if they should have more women fire fighters so that they look better to the community and keep them out of court. They believe that they should have some and should “recruit” to get them; and when they have “enough” then they can stop recruiting.
This happens many times and fire departments around the country have had to deal with these issues. They recruit for women fire fighters because they do not have any for any number of reasons and then they feel as though they have “enough” and stop looking for women fire fighters. What is “enough”? It is a shame that this term comes into the picture when talking about hiring qualified people for a job. It is a common issue that when a given fire department hits its goal of how many women they need to have hired then they will always have the bare minimum. Is that because they stop hiring women? Do they not allow anymore? Why so few women when several will apply for a position? These are all questions that have been asked but you never see an answer for these issues.
Statistics show that women make up an extremely small percentage of fire fighters in America. A large part is due to the gender positions and socialization views of women and these “male” professions. This is an issue that hopefully will be resolved but unfortunately this probably will not happen very soon. If you are qualified then you are qualified; gender should have no relevance as women in many times are just as qualified as men for these jobs.

Justice is Served in Los Angekes

Justice has been served in Los Angles. Former LAFD fire fighter Brenda Lee was awarded 6.2 million dollars in damages by a jury last month. She had been the victim of ruthless behavior that had been going on within the LAFD. She was harassed for being female, African- American, and a lesbian. Lee was subjected to many awful things in her twelve year stint with the LAFD and finally she had enough and took her case to court.
The article states that Lee faced “behaviors from supervisors and co-workers such as derogatory comments, her locker being ransacked, being singled out to do exhausting drills no other firefighters were required to do, finding her mouthwash had been mixed with urine, and being retaliated against when she complained of the treatment.” (www.i-women.org) Also two male coworkers had testified on behalf of Lee’s defense, and they too were retaliated against and eventually had law suits of their own; which both of them won their own settlements.
Hopefully, this is a sign of what is to come of the fire department. Finally, making people watch what they say and be held accountable for their actions. It amazes me that it has taken this long for this kind of action to take place, but better late then never. Lee was awarded what she deserved and this big hit to the budget will at least make this department be more aware of how employees may be treating one another. Hopefully this idea will spread to other departments around the country as the LAFD is not the only department facing these issues.

Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment is ongoing problem with fire departments around the country. The fire fighting profession is an occupation dominated by males. Women face many hardships from the fire department and from their fellow workers. Even though the sexual harassment clearly takes place in the fire department, it is rarely ever documented for different reasons.
It is hard for women to tell anyone about harassment issues in the fire department because often times they feel scared to do so. It is unfortunate that women are forced to feel this way but understandable why women do. When women have been surveyed about the issue of sexual harassment in the fire department and asked why women rarely report incidents they have very real reasons as to why. They do not want to be labeled as “trouble-makers” and feel that if they do report these incidents that their fellow fire fighters will look down upon these women. It is a hard place to be when you are outnumbered as much as women are in the fire department. Also the women surveyed felt that if they were to report any incidents that they would probably end up losing their job. They feel this way because it is as if whenever a women takes legal action against another employee, they often do not come back to work. Often women will just not say anything so as not to be “singled” out more than they already are in this profession, and just hope that the harassment stops.
It is a horrible thing to imagine that in this day and age women are still this uncomfortable at their profession. When these issues keep happening it is not the women that are to blame or even the men; the institution is failing them. The institution is failing these women because they are not making them feel comfortable enough to speak out about problems in the job. There needs to be a change because sexual harassment should not occur in the workplace and in the fire department it seems as if it is not being taken serious enough.

Institutional Barriers

There are many obstacles that women face when being involved in fire and other emergency services. I want to take a look specifically into the actual institutional barriers that set women back in the fire service. Obstacles that women have no control over and are not set up with women in mind; meaning that these different regulations and other “codes” are not established with thought about catering to women.

Many fire stations across the United States are not built to accommodate women. Sleeping areas, bathing areas, changing areas, and restrooms are many times built for one sex and women are forced to deal with the situations handed to them. You would think that this would not be still happening in this day and age but it is. Especially because most fire departments are government funded and they above all should be providing a good work environment for all of its employees.

There are many other institutional barriers against women in the fire services. For example, there are inadequate policies against reproductive safety and fire fighter pregnancy, and also lack of information about safety and risks with fire fighting affecting pregnancy. Also, the way in which hair and grooming policies are set up based on male tendencies and not accommodating for women. Bunking gear and all other equipment issued to fire fighters are made to fit men and not fitting for women to wear; which also could lead to safety issues. A lack of child care options for female fire fighters is also another issue as they work 24 hour shifts and finding child care is difficult for that kind of a schedule.

These are issues and obstacles that women face all of the time in this line of work and they are not necessary. It is ridiculous that women still face these barriers within their workplace in present time, and especially considering that most of these departments are publicly funded; meaning that if the government is not taking the proper actions in providing for their employees, then who will.

Introduction

Women have faced much scrutiny being involved with fire departments and other emergency services for decades. It has been said that women are not able to perform the same duties as males and they just are not cut out for these services. These opinions are wrong. Also women face tough times when trying to get promoted through the fire department as this has been a male dominated field of work for quite some time.
Trying to get and to a fire department, regardless of sex, is a difficult thing. On top of that, being a woman has set another obstacle in the hiring process. An article published by Cornell's Institute for Women and Work stated that less than 4 percent of the nation's fire fighters are female and that over half of the nation's fire departments have never even hired a female worker. This is an alarming statistic. Even harder then trying to be hired on a fire department as a woman, is trying to be hired as a woman of color.
This issue has importance to me because I personally come from a family of fire fighters and it is an issue that I would like to see get the attention that it deserves. With all of the human rights and equality that we strive for as Americans, this is an issue that needs attention and can hopefully see change. I am a firm believer in women rights especially in this field because women are qualified and it would bring change that has been long needed for this profession.