Diversity

Behavioral research shows that by the time they begin their school years, young girls and boys already have some pretty “defined” ideas of what men and women can or cannot do, especially regarding jobs.

I’m sitting at my computer on a beautiful Sunday morning, Mother’s Day as a matter of fact, and I’m working on this blog post. And I’m getting madder by the minute. Mad because I’m collecting the written comments from the survey on Sexual Assault and Rape Against Women Firefighters and I cannot comprehend the idea that the same men who are treating the moms in their lives to flowers and cards and dinner are the same men who have sexually assaulted or raped their female colleagues in the fire station.

Sexual assaults and rape being perpetrated on our sister firefighters by their colleagues--and in many cases their leaders--isn't a women's issue that they can solve. It's a failure of fire department leadership and that means it's up to the men who occupy the majority of leadership positions in the fire service to eradicate this blight from our profession.

I find it truly sad and disappointing that in 2014 we still have politicians making such outrageously poor management decisions for their Seattle FD BCcommunity’s Fire and EMS protection. I look at this individual’s investment in herself and in her department, as well as her department’s investment in her, and I’m left shaking my head in dismay.

The military services of the United States are not the only organizations that are plagued by sexual harassment and sexual assaults that include rape toward their female members. We have a similar problem in the fire service in the United States as well.

Gender violence issues. Did you know that researchers have found that when a large percentage of both men and women hear those three words, what they really “hear” is “woman’s issues.”

In response my previous post, What’s Your Plan for an Inclusive and Diverse Department to Increase Service and Safety?, I received a lengthy letter from a fire service colleague that posed several thought-provoking questions. Below are the contents of that letter. (WK is the letter writer; RPA is me).

From reading accounts, both on and off line, it is evident that too many fire officers still don’t “get it” when it comes to dignity in the workplace. I believe that is one of the fundamental factors in this ongoing blight on the profession that many of us hold near and dear to our hearts: we still have too many officers who don’t manage their fire station like a workplace in 2013.

Photographs and other imagery that predominantly portray female firefighters as sexual objects first, and firefighters second, communicates a very powerful “marketing message” whether men and women in the fire service choose to accept it or not. (Don’t think so? Just ask any marketing professional “worth their salt” what they think).

Was wondering if you could do me a favor and list what you believe to be the most significant changes/trends in the past 10 years of the fire service.