NAVAL

POSTGRADUATE

SCHOOL

MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA

THESIS

WORKING FIRE: RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION

OF WOMEN FIREFIGHTERS

by 

Heather L. Marques

September 2022 

Co-Advisors: David W. Brannan

Carolyn C. Halladay 

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WORKING FIRE: RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION OF WOMEN

FIREFIGHTERS

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6. AUTHOR(S) Heather L. Marques

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Naval Postgraduate School

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13. ABSTRACT (maximum 200 words)

Until the early 1970s, it was illegal for women to serve in the U.S. fire service. Since then, data have

revealed that the national population of women in career structural firefighting has scarcely risen above 4

percent of the approximately 380,000 total personnel. Similar industries, such as the military and law

enforcement, have increased their female hiring in recent years. By looking at the primary obstacles in fire

service integration, including gender-neutral physical fitness exams, socio-cultural dynamics, parental leave

issues, and promotional obstacles, this research analyzes gaps in available data as well as makes cohesive

recommendations to shift focus away from recruitment and toward retention. Fire service leaders are offered

models of understanding for how to identify issues within their agencies and engineer policies for improved

integration of women. The thesis concludes that the successful integration of women into the fire service

requires a combination of intentional leadership, male mentorship, and realistic expectations for recruitment

from a historically small female candidate pool.

14. SUBJECT TERMS

Women firefighters, diversity, gender issues, recruitment, retention, DEI, integration,

mentorship.

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89

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Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited.

WORKING FIRE: RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION OF WOMEN

FIREFIGHTERS

Heather L. Marques

Division Chief of Medical Services, Alameda County Fire Department

BA, University of California, Berkeley, 1999

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS IN SECURITY STUDIES

(HOMELAND SECURITY AND DEFENSE)

from the

NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL

September 2022

Approved by: David W. Brannan

Co-Advisor

Carolyn C. Halladay

Co-Advisor

Erik J. Dahl

Associate Professor, Department of National Security Affairs

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ABSTRACT

Until the early 1970s, it was illegal for women to serve in the U.S. fire service.

Since then, data have revealed that the national population of women in career structural

firefighting has scarcely risen above 4 percent of the approximately 380,000 total

personnel. Similar industries, such as the military and law enforcement, have increased

their female hiring in recent years. By looking at the primary obstacles in fire service

integration, including gender-neutral physical fitness exams, socio-cultural dynamics, 

parental leave issues, and promotional obstacles, this research analyzes gaps in available

data as well as makes cohesive recommendations to shift focus away from recruitment

and toward retention. Fire service leaders are offered models of understanding for how to

identify issues within their agencies and engineer policies for improved integration of 

women. The thesis concludes that the successful integration of women into the fire

service requires a combination of intentional leadership, male mentorship, and realistic

expectations for recruitment from a historically small female candidate pool. 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................1

A. RESEARCH QUESTION .........................................................................4

B. LITERATURE REVIEW .........................................................................4

1. Recruitment Is Not the Only Issue ...............................................4

2. Identifying Underlying Causes.....................................................6

3. Expanding Views............................................................................8

C. RESEARCH DESIGN...............................................................................9

1. Gap Analysis Framework..............................................................9

2. Focus and Scope of Research......................................................10

3. Limitations....................................................................................11

4. Outputs..........................................................................................12

D. CHAPTER ROADMAP..........................................................................12

II. THIS SIDE OF THE GAP: OBSTACLES AND ISSUES FOR 

WOMEN FIREFIGHTERS................................................................................13

A. PHYSICALITY........................................................................................15

1. Fire Service Physical Standards—Industrial Athletes.............17

2. The Firefighting Candidate Physical Agility Test.....................18

B. WORK–HOME SOCIO-CULTURAL INFLUENCES .......................20

1. The Proving Grounds..................................................................21

2. The Fire House as a Performance Stage ....................................23

3. The In-Group/Out-Group Narrative .........................................24

C. FAMILY PLANNING AND PARENTAL LEAVE..............................25

D. PROMOTIONAL OBSTACLES ...........................................................28

E. SUMMARY...............................................................................................31

III. WOMEN IN THE U.S. FIRE SERVICE: A GAP ANALYSIS.......................33

A. KNOWLEDGE: WHAT ARE THE CURRENT CONDITIONS?.....34

B. MOTIVATIONS: WHY DO WE NEED MORE WOMEN? ..............34

C. ORGANIZATIONAL INFLUENCE: HOW DO WE FOSTER

SYSTEMIC CHANGE? ..........................................................................35

D. SUMMARY ..............................................................................................36

IV. LESSONS FROM THE CANADIAN FIRE SERVICE AND BEST 

PRACTICES ........................................................................................................37

A. LESSONS FROM THE NORTH ...........................................................37

1. Vancouver.....................................................................................38
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2. Toronto..........................................................................................39

B. BEST PRACTICES FROM THE FIRE SERVICE.............................40

1. Sharing the “Brotherhood”.........................................................40

2. Defining Diversity ........................................................................41

3. Defining Equity ............................................................................42

4. Defining Inclusion........................................................................42

C. BEST PRACTICES FROM THE U.S. MILITARY.............................43

1. Work Schedules............................................................................43

2. Organizational Culture ...............................................................44

3. Family Planning ............................................................................44

4. Dependent Care.............................................................................44

5. Deployments..................................................................................44

6. Sexual Assault ...............................................................................45

D. SUMMARY...............................................................................................45

V. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR AN INCLUSIVE

WORKFORCE ....................................................................................................47

A. RECOMMENDATIONS.........................................................................47

1. Establish Baseline Data and Definitions....................................47

2. Develop a New National Report Card........................................48

3. Provide a Way Forward with Mentorship and Guidance........48

4. Support Female Leadership........................................................49

5. Address Mental Health and Wellness........................................51

6. Shift Focus to Retention ..............................................................52

B. FINAL WORDS.......................................................................................53

APPENDIX. THE ECOLOGICAL MODEL OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT ........55

A. THE MICROSYSTEM ...........................................................................57

B. THE MESOSYSTEM..............................................................................58

C. THE EXOSYSTEM.................................................................................58

LIST OF REFERENCES................................................................................................61

INITIAL DISTRIBUTION LIST...................................................................................69
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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Risk Quadrant. ...........................................................................................13

Figure 2. Four Quadrants of Concern for Women Firefighters.................................15

Figure 3. The Hero’s Journey....................................................................................22

Figure 4. Gap between the Current and Desired State. .............................................33

Figure 5. Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model, Adapted for the Fire Service. .........56
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LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

BLS Bureau of Labor Statistics

CAFC Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs

CPAT Candidate Physical Agility Test

EMS Emergency Medical Services

FDNY Fire Department of New York City

IAFF International Association of Fire Fighters

PTSD post-traumatic stress disorder

P-SEC Psycho-Social Ethnography in the Commonplace

SWAT special weapons and tactics

WFI Wellness Fitness Initiative
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Women comprise only about 4 percent of the U.S. fire service’s career firefighting

workforce.1 The U.S. fire service is not designed to recruit and cultivate female talent.

Currently, there are approximately 14,800 women, while 360,000 men serve as

professional firefighters.2 These numbers are higher among wildland firefighters and

volunteer departments, as the coveted positions in municipal career departments have long

been a stronghold of men. The fire service’s historical design and practice have influenced

this inequity. The first woman was hired in 1974, but almost 50 years later, nationwide

percentages of female personnel have not risen much above 4 percent, and more recently,

in some major cities, numbers appear to be trending downward.3

This thesis examines the entire trajectory of a female firefighter’s career path from

recruitment and initial onboarding to career development and retirement to identify core

issues impeding the successful inclusion of women in the fire service. Specifically, it asks,

which policies and practices serve as impediments to inclusion and which strategies should

be developed to increase the quality and quantity of recruitment, retention, and retirement

of female firefighters.

Physicality is the first gate, as it includes the initial fitness performance tests and

the recruit academy, which are the most significant causes of “wash out” or elimination of

female recruits. Physical requirements are comparable to those of the military’s special

operations branches and tactical teams in law enforcement, as these are traditionally

gender-neutral fitness tests that bear out similar results to the fire service’s gender-neutral

entry tests.

1 “FAQs on Women in the Fire & Emergency Services,” Women in Fire, accessed January 1, 2021,

https://www.womeninfire.org/faqs/.

2 Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Men Accounted for About 75 Percent of Workers in Protective Service

Occupations in 2020,” Economics Daily, October 15, 2021, https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2021/menaccounted-for-about-75-percent-of-workers-in-protective-service-occupations-in-2020.htm.

3 Gabriel Greschler, “Women Still Make up a Fraction of Bay Area’s Firefighters,” Mercury News,

November 29, 2021, https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/11/24/thats-not-showing-much-effort-santaclara-county-fire-department-struggles-recruiting-female-candidates/.
xiv

Women firefighters often report experiencing “othering” or isolation from the

dominant group.4 Conflicting gender roles and societal expectations create further

fracturing of women integrating into the male-dominated industry.5 Socio-cultural issues

include gender identity, social out-grouping and isolation in a predominantly male

workplace, and honor challenges. Women firefighters in both the United States and Canada

report similar phenomena with social othering, a source of recent concentration in

academic studies.

Women experience different issues related to parenting in the fire service, including

challenges with a lack of supportive protocols around pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding.

In the long term, childcare is often a struggle with the long shift work and unpredictable

schedules around emergency work and the fire season. Family planning has been identified

as a deterrent to recruitment and a cause for early departure from the career.

Promotional challenges are another distinct category, as women firefighters often

suffer a cumulative effect of being denied desirable bids for busy firehouses, needing to

outperform their competition, and experiencing distrust from subordinates unaccustomed

to seeing a woman in a role of tactical leadership.6 By defining these four compartments,

the pervasive issues preventing women from joining the service and causing them to leave

become more easily identifiable.

Problem-solving first begins with identifying the issue. As research and data

gathering on women in fire is so sparse, there is no accurate data to date on the exact

number of female firefighters, company officers, chief officers, or executive chief officers.

A full census-tracking mechanism would require surveying women’s pay status (volunteer,

combination, or career departments), rank, years of service, and specialties. Ideally, data

4 Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, A Fire Service for All: Exploring Ways to Further Diversity

and Inclusivity for Women in the Canadian Fire Industry (Ottawa: Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs,

2020), https://cdn.ymaws.com/cafc.ca/resource/resmgr/reports/updated_a_fire_service_for_a.pdf.

5 “Diversity and Inclusion,” Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, accessed March 6, 2021, https://cafc.

ca/page/diversandinclusion.

6 Marcos O. Marimon et al., “Diversity and Inclusion Leaders in U.S. Fire Departments Impact the

Type and Number of Diversity and Inclusion Programs Offered,” Journal of Occupational and

Environmental Medicine 62, no. 1 (January 2020): e13–16, https://doi.org/10.1097/

JOM.0000000000001780.
xv

collectors could create a portal for tracking hiring of new female personnel and retirements

and departures from service. If these mechanisms were in place, the Department of

Homeland Security might have a better sense of the demographics and state of the union

in relationship to its first responders.

Recruitment has long been focused on seeking out and finding the best candidates.

While that is still fundamentally necessary, outreach is not enough. Leaders need to realize

they have a responsibility to attract quality candidates to their agencies. Improved

recruitment and retention can be achieved through reputation building, a solid public

image, and the development of supportive policies.

The fire service would do well to lean on the best practices of many successful

businesses and prioritize psychologically safe and productive work. Apart from focusing

on recruitment, it should take care of the women it already has—and acknowledge and

support them. Women bring so much to the fire service as an industry. Moreover, as leaders

of the most gender-imbalanced workforce in modern U.S. history, fire service executives

are feeling increasing public pressure to improve integration. If the leaders’ intent is to

create an inclusive workplace, the steps toward the goal must be clearly stated, understood

by the entire group, initiated, and reassessed. It is up to the leaders and policymakers to

change the current environment and pave the way for future success.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This thesis is dedicated to Mora and Milani,

who always welcome me home with hugs and kisses.

* * *

This class was known as the COVID Cohort. In March 2020, weeks into our

curriculum, our class went virtual for the first time in the school’s history. In a group full

of emergency responders from across the nation, many pulled out initially, others waited it

out, questioning whether the world was ending or if it was just the flu. Week by week, our

numbers dwindled. The few who remained pressed on, fighting historic wildfires,

managing the healthcare crisis of the century, and confronting violent protests for police

reform. Cohort 2001–2002 was drawn together, virtually, in the crossroads of history.

As this thesis was developing, I was serving as a fire captain in a metropolitan

department. I staffed a water rescue station and was the lead paramedic on my crew. Nights

were long and 48-hour shifts stretched into 120-hour shifts as first responders encountered

the massive staffing shortages shared by agencies across the country, amidst civil unrest

and a global pandemic. During all this, my mom, Mary, fell ill and died suddenly. As my

world crashed down around me, my cohort reached down to lift me up. People who I had

never met in person became my primary support network. Specifically, I must thank Cassie

Johnson, Rob Root, Rena Wheeler, Stephan Lopez, and Thaddeus Espy for checking in

and keeping me connected. My Jiminy Cricket, Ben Greer, is owed a debt of gratitude for

being an ally, a mentor, an editor, and an advocate.

These people demonstrated above-average compassion at the most difficult time in

my life, and I am blessed to know them. In an unbelievable stroke of fate, my only brother,

Jim, was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He died just months after our mom, and his loss

felt insurmountable. No amount of grief or outburst would dissuade my new friends, and I

am humbled to acknowledge this unrepayable debt of gratitude. These folks, along with

our entire graduating cohort, established an indelible bond. These relationships are the most

important outcome of this course of study.
xviii

As I regained by focus, three people became very important in my road to

completion. Chloe Woida of the Graduate Writing Center provided firm but gentle

direction to keep going, and Noel Yucuis, my editor, stood at the end of the tunnel with a

lamp to guide my way. Librarian Greta Marlatt provided above-average effort and

enthusiasm, for which I am forever grateful. My thesis advisors David Brannan and

Carolyn Halladay saw value in the research and stayed with me to see it through. I am

grateful for the effort and dedication they afforded me. Through all of this, my agency, the

Alameda County Fire Department, provided support and reassurance. A special thanks

goes to Fire Chief Willie McDonald for believing in me and allowing me to complete the

quest. Your leadership is exemplary.

Above all, at the nexus of my world, is my husband, Steve Marques. Steve, you

have been my mentor, my friend, and my partner. You have carried the weight throughout

this endeavor and been my sea anchor, keeping our ship righted in the storms. In the end,

it is just a paper, just another study. For those who endured the process, we know this

represents a metamorphosis. Thank you to all our sea anchors, who have enabled Cohort

2001–2002 to learn, grow, and expand beyond our former selves amid the storm of the

century.
1

I. INTRODUCTION

Women comprise only about 4 percent of the U.S. fire service’s career firefighting

workforce.1 The U.S. fire service is not designed to recruit and cultivate female talent.

Currently, there are approximately 14,800 women, while 360,000 men serve as

professional firefighters.2 These numbers are higher among wildland firefighters and

volunteer departments, as the coveted positions in municipal career departments have long

been a stronghold of men. The fire service’s historical design and practice have influenced

this inequity. Until 1964 and the Civil Rights Movement, it was illegal for women to serve

as professional firefighters; 1974 marked the first time a woman was hired as a firefighter

in the nation, and women were not included in many departments until the 1980s.3 Almost

50 years later, nationwide percentages of female personnel have not risen much above 4

percent, and more recently, in some major cities, numbers appear to be trending

downward.4

Public and city administrators have elevated the need for the greater inclusion of

women in fire operations. However, recruitment suffers from a small and dwindling

candidate pool. The mosaic of gendered challenges is many: the fire service is a physically

demanding profession, so much so that only a limited number of women can meet the size

and strength required. Fire service differs from comparable professions such as law

enforcement and the military where candidates can depend on “equalizers” like weapons

or other equipment to compensate for the essential strength amid the strenuous physical

1 “FAQs on Women in the Fire & Emergency Services,” Women in Fire, accessed January 1, 2021,

https://www.womeninfire.org/faqs/.

2 Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Men Accounted for About 75 Percent of Workers in Protective Service

Occupations in 2020,” Economics Daily, October 15, 2021, https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2021/menaccounted-for-about-75-percent-of-workers-in-protective-service-occupations-in-2020.htm.

3 Linda F. Willing, On the Line: Women Firefighters Tell Their Stories (Grand Lake, CO: JTD Press,

2011), 11.

4 Gabriel Greschler, “Women Still Make up a Fraction of Bay Area’s Firefighters,” Mercury News,

November 29, 2021, https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/11/24/thats-not-showing-much-effort-santaclara-county-fire-department-struggles-recruiting-female-candidates/.
2

demands of the profession.5 Additionally, societal and cultural barriers in a maledominated profession can be a significant impediment.6 These challenges have proven

formidable, and efforts to remediate them have not resulted in a significant substantial

recruitment in most American fire departments.7

These barriers persist beyond initial hiring and can negatively impact retention and

professional development. “Retention” refers to the duration of a firefighter’s career after

the probationary period.8 Challenges such as ill-fitting uniforms and infrastructure that

lacks female facilities like bathrooms and locker rooms make the daily work of women

firefighters much harder, thereby depressing morale and shortening careers.9 Other

intangible barriers are more difficult to articulate and measure and commonly involve

social and cultural issues. Women firefighters often report experiencing “othering” or

isolation from the dominant group.10 Conflicting gender roles and societal expectations

create further fracturing of women integrating into a male-dominated industry.11 In sum,

many of these barriers are interrelated.

5 Janet L. Contursi, “Women in Leadership in the Fire Service, Law Enforcement, and the Military: A

Comparative Study” (PhD diss., Chicago School of Professional Psychology, 2018), ProQuest.

6 Walter S. Booth and Charles A. Rohe, “Recruiting for Women and Minorities in the Fire Service:

Solutions for Today’s Challenges,” Public Personnel Management 17, no. 1 (1988): 53–61, https://doi.org/

10.1177/009102608801700106.

7 Debra Parkinson, Alyssa Duncan, and Frank Archer, “Barriers and Enablers to Women in Fire and

Emergency Leadership Roles,” Gender in Management 34, no. 2 (2019): 78–93, https://doi.org/10.1108/

GM-07-2017-0090.

8 Richard E. Clark and Fred Estes, Turning Research into Results: A Guide to Selecting the Right

Performance Solutions (Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, 2008).

9 Dakota Smith, “L.A. Has Hired More Female Firefighters. Why Is the Department Still Dominated

by Men?,” Los Angeles Times, January 27, 2020, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-01-27/

fire-department-los-angeles-gender-gap-women-firefighter-garcetti.

10 Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, A Fire Service for All: Exploring Ways to Further Diversity

and Inclusivity for Women in the Canadian Fire Industry (Ottawa: Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs,

2020), https://cdn.ymaws.com/cafc.ca/resource/resmgr/reports/updated_a_fire_service_for_a.pdf.

11 “Diversity and Inclusion,” Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, accessed March 6, 2021,

https://cafc.ca/page/diversandinclusion.
3

Recent data indicate very few women in career firefighting roles have achieved the

full 30-year service retirement.12 Low rates of successful retirement significantly impact

recruitment as full retirement benefits are one of the greatest appeals of the profession.13

One major obstacle is that the body of research on women in the fire service is dated, stale,

limited in scope, or incomplete. For example, a seminal report in 2008 by the International

Association of Women in Fire and Emergency Services—A National Report Card on

Women in Firefighting—addressed this underrepresented group.14 However, it left out key

elements of the female firefighter’s experience. Anecdotal evidence indicates women are

experiencing sexual harassment, sexual assault, and other forms of discrimination and

mistreatment that are not reported, and little formal research exists to validate their

experiences.15

The government’s inclusion of women into preexisting professions that were

predominately male is an emerging art. Design, application, and analysis of U.S. national

and state fire service integration policies are in their infancy. Many concepts or tactics

implemented for ancillary professions may not apply directly to the fire service but may

prove to be informative on certain aspects of a successful co-gendered profession. While

this thesis seeks to borrow existing analytical frameworks, it recognizes firefighting is a

multifaceted, complex, interpersonal profession, one that demands a nuanced discussion

and understanding.

Ultimately, a myopically and draconianly designed working environment impedes

integration and denies communities the homeland security benefits that female firefighters

deliver. Research and history indicate current efforts to increase female firefighters are not

working. After more than 40 years of women working in career firefighting, the numbers

12 Anna L. Schermerhorn-Collins, “The Challenges to Gender Integration in the Career Fire Services:

A Comparative Case Study of Men in Nursing” (master’s thesis, Naval Postgraduate School, 2017),

http://hdl.handle.net/10945/53044.

13 Parkinson, Duncan, and Archer, “Barriers and Enablers to Women.”

14 Denise M. Hulett et al., A National Report Card on Women in Firefighting (Fairfax, VA:

International Association of Women in Fire & Emergency Services, 2008), https://www.womeninfire.org/

wp-content/uploads/2014/07/35827WSP1.pdf.

15 Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, A Fire Service for All.
4 

of female firefighters have not increased. With the changing nature of improved service,

including an emphasis on medical aid calls and customer service, there is a greater need to

capture qualified female candidates. Redefining recruitment beyond marketing efforts,

including emphasizing gender-tailored incentives, is crucial for the fire service in laying 

the framework to attract the most qualified women candidates available and evolving the 

fire service into the 21st century. 

A. RESEARCH QUESTION

This thesis examines the entire trajectory of a female firefighter’s career path from

recruitment and initial onboarding to career development and retirement to identify core

issues impeding the successful inclusion of women in the fire service. Specifically, it asks

the following: Which policies and practices serve as impediments to inclusion, and which

strategies should be developed to increase the quality and quantity of recruitment,

retention, and retirement of female firefighters? 

B. LITERATURE REVIEW

This literature review synthesizes research and data focused on women in career

firefighting roles. Literature includes grand jury studies, journal articles, theses, books, and

reports that emphasize issues of recruitment challenges, socio-cultural dynamics, genderspecific obstacles and discrimination against women. This section begins with an overview 

of fire service issues around recruitment, continues with relevant findings on successful

integration, and concludes with literature focused more directly on retention and career

development.

1. Recruitment Is Not the Only Issue

Santa Clara County, California, released a report in 2020 in response to a series of 

complaints and investigations. The report, entitled Why Aren’t There More Female

Firefighters in Santa Clara County?, is based on the findings of the county’s Civil Grand

Jury study. This study was seen as a progressive move toward enlightening citizens and

policymakers, but it based some of its premises on faulty data and stale historical records.

The study opens with this statement: “While female firefighters have existed in the United
5

States for over 200 years, the vast majority of firefighters in the nation are men.”16 This

statement refers to an often-quoted historical vignette about a woman named Molly

Williams who served as a slave with the Oceanus Engine Company in 1815. This thesis is

about the integration of women into the prestigious ranks of paid career firefighting—and

the hurdles and demands of attaining membership into that elite group. For one, the use of

a single slave as a point of origin for women in firefighting is a false narrative. More to the

point, it was illegal for women to work in the U.S. fire service until the early 1970s, so the

scope of this study starts there.

The weaknesses of the Santa Clara report go beyond historical misrepresentation to

its other sources of data. The Grand Jury’s report relies heavily on data from a 2008 study,

the National Report Card of Women in Firefighting, whose data are inapplicable to women

in the fire service. The two social scientists and two civil rights attorneys who published

the Report Card built their comparisons on the following industries: “bus mechanics,

drywall installers, enlisted military personnel, highway maintenance workers, loggers,

professional athletes, refuse collectors, roofers, septic tank servicers, tire builders, and

welders.”17 Their finding—that women represent 17 percent of these 184 occupations—

does not fairly parallel the modern fire service.18 Aside from the profound physical fitness

requirements, the fire service diverges in the familial co-habitation, the intrinsic risks to

life and limb, exposure to carcinogens and toxins, and the medical training requirements.

For the most part, these other professions do not involve night work and 48-hour

operational periods.

Abundant data exist to confirm that graveyard shift work has long-term detrimental

effects on health and longevity.19 These unique circumstances make parallel comparisons

16 Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury, Why Aren’t There More Female Firefighters in Santa Clara

County? (San Jose: Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara, 2020), https://www.scscourt.org/

court_divisions/civil/cgj/2020/

Why%20Arent%20There%20More%20Female%20Firefighters%20in%20Santa%20Clara%20County.pdf.

17 Hulett et al., A National Report Card on Women in Firefighting.

18 Hulett et al.

19 Matthew Walker, Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams (New York: Scribner,

2018).
6 

with the fire service very difficult. It is a stretch to compare the data statistics of septic tank

servicers with the characteristics and demands of structural firefighting. This unstable 

foundation for reasoning informs many of the Grand Jury’s findings, declaring that the way

to solve the imbalance in the fire service is simply to hire more women. Such logic puts 

the onus of responsibility on municipal fire chiefs and administrators to find women

candidates where there are very few. The use of outdated information with limited scope 

has exacerbated and reinforced historical blind spots. 

2. Identifying Underlying Causes

Many excellent studies have been conducted in recent years to identify specific

obstacles in gender integration of the fire service. Hailing from the Fire Department of New

York City (FDNY), Fire Officer Anna Schermerhorn-Collins composed a study comparing 

women in the fire service to men in nursing, both representing a minority subgroup in their

respective professions. Schermerhorn-Collins identifies significant obstacles for these

populations, but she recognizes that breaking into the fire service culture is the greater of 

the two challenges. She identifies a long legacy of tradition, entitlement, honor, and pride: 

The notions of entitlement, belonging, pride, indoctrination, and tradition

are essential to understanding the masculine culture of firefighting. The

ability to promote change will be ineffective if the value of these concepts

is not recognized. As non-traditional populations enter this homogenous 

workplace culture, the challenge for leadership is to find a way to

acknowledge the value of the concepts that define fire service culture while

facilitating positive integration of the workforce.20

Schermerhorn-Collins’s lived experience as one of the only women in the ranks of the 

FDNY in the 1990s lends unique insight into the culture of fire and illuminates why

“simply hiring more women” is not always the best approach. Once a woman is hired, she 

has a host of invisible tripwires to navigate. Hiring takes conscientious and responsible 

mentorship and strong leadership to ensure a culture of inclusivity. After the hiring, there

is a need for shepherds. 

20 Schermerhorn-Collins, “The Challenges to Gender Integration.” 
7

Taking a unique feminist historical view on an existing gap in academic knowledge

and fire service identity is Sarah Vee Moseley, who examines the role of women’s true

entrance into the fire service by way of the ladies’ auxiliary. She claims that beginning as

early as the first World War, women played an integral role in managing the logistics,

outreach to the community, and the public image of their fire department:

Auxiliary work often went unacknowledged due to asymmetrical power

relations between ladies’ auxiliaries and fire departments, but their

contributions had a significant impact on fire department reputation. Their

work counts as fire department work, complementary to prototypical

firefighting and central to fire department efforts by performing the duties

outside of the traditionally masculine purview.21

Ironically, so many of the traits that endear firefighters to the public are traditionally

feminine domestic skills, such as compassion, service to elders and children, cooking, and

keeping a clean house. The bravery and courage exhibited in the high-profile work of fire

suppression is what makes the trade task-specific and unique, but the public image of the

firefighter is that of a selfless and approachable public servant. Early contributions of

female partners may have aided in the establishment of this positive image. Moseley states,

“By building fire department ethos away from the emergency, ladies’ auxiliaries built the

department’s reputation on a wider foundation; the department’s reputation no longer

rested solely on firefighter performance but also on the everyday work of the auxiliary—

happening quietly in the background.”22

Studies on women in fire concentrate primarily on the strife and limitations of

women entering their roles in public safety. Moseley offers a unique and potent perspective

highlighting the generations of impact women have had in the industry and its positive

reputation. She emphasizes the notion that women have been here all along. Using this

logic, she strengthens the position of women in the fire service, even behind the scenes,

and brings up an interesting consideration about the complement of femininity to

masculinity in balancing a workplace.

21 Sarah Vee Moseley, “Women’s Entrance into the Fire Department: A Theory of Collaboration and

Crisis” (PhD diss., Old Dominion University, 2017), 34, 37, https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/english_etds/.

22 Moseley, 40.
8 

3. Expanding Views

The fire service profession is unique, and its issues must be divined with a 

microscope, not a macro lens. It is crucial that policymakers and administrators be 

empowered to base decisions on real facts and validated information, not idealistic notions. 

The emphasis on hiring more women is often constructed from two premises: that the fire

service should reflect the community it serves and that the fire service is comparable to

other male-dominated professions. The fire service is what Chief Alan Brunacini has

described as a “highly technical blue-collar profession.”23 A firefighter can go from cutting

a hole in the roof of a burning building one minute, to delivering a baby the next, to cutting

a victim out of a crashed car the next. This unpredictability and vast knowledge base attract

a distinct personality type and require physical, mental, and emotional tenacity to succeed. 

These qualities—physical, mental, and emotional tenacity—do not belong to one 

sex. What they do seem to have in common is a characteristic that Angela Duckworth has

coined “grit,” defined in her 2016 book as follows: “passion and sustained persistence

applied toward long-term achievement, with no particular concern for rewards or 

recognition along the way. It combines resilience, ambition, and self-control in the pursuit 

of goals that take months, years, or even decades” (emphasis added).24 Long-term studies 

in psychology and metacognition inform Duckworth’s conclusions that talent and ability

are only partially intrinsic—they have more to do with focus and resolve. They involve 

putting forth the effort, remaining focused on a goal, evaluating progress, and pivoting 

when circumstances change. Grit could be called a common denominator in fire service

success stories. Thousands of women have successfully navigated careers in the fire

service, experiencing gratification in their service while laying down tracks for others to

follow. 

Most studies, grand jury synopses, and theses tend to focus on robust recruitment

as the solution to creating a greater female representation. Data trends gathered from the 

23 Alan V. Brunacini, Essentials of Fire Department Customer Service (Stillwater, OK: International

Fire Service Training Association, 1996), 16.

24 Angela Duckworth, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance (New York: Scribner, 2016), 57.
9 

last 47 years indicate that the recruitment pool of women will continue to be limited due to

a fundamental lack of interest, physical capability, and other professional obstacles. The

solution to improved gender ratios in the fire service should shift to an improved quality of 

life, which can be addressed by organizations’ retention policies. This thesis shifts focus 

away from the quest of outreach and recruitment to a more direct focus on what it takes to

create an environment of inclusivity and a growth mindset. It identifies ways that men and

women and those who identify otherwise can serve their agencies and their communities

throughout the length and breadth of their careers. This thesis provides a historical

perspective of the industry and highlights agencies and individuals who have achieved

workplace balance. This research offers recommendations for policymakers to achieve a 

cohesive comprehensive national inclusion plan for women in the emergency response/fire

service profession. 

C. RESEARCH DESIGN

This study made use of available data to initiate an informed discussion, designed

to aid fire service leaders and decision-making efforts toward recruiting, supporting, and

elevating women. This thesis explores the career lifespan of a female firefighter, from

recruitment through retirement, and de-emphasizes the short-sightedness of simply filling

academy boots. 

1. Gap Analysis Framework 

To illuminate the causes and motivations that perpetuate the gender imbalance in

the American fire service, this author has applied Clark and Estes’s gap analysis as a 

framework to describe which policies and practices are lacking and what has been

preventing more successful interventions from being implemented. In 2008, Clark and

Estes formulated the gap analysis framework to provide a systematic process to analyze

both individual and group performance in achieving organizational goals. According to

Clark and Estes, “The framework focuses on the knowledge, motivations, and

organizational influences (KMOs) that impact the performance of individuals and the 
10 

group at large.”25 Clarke and Estes’ triad of knowledge, motivations, and organizational 

influences are critical factors in recognizing performance issues and identifying needs.

Furthermore, gap analysis is a useful tool in evaluating the U.S. fire service because there

is an evident disparity between where it is and where it could be regarding recruitment and

retention of women. See the Appendix for a customized framework initially considered for

analysis in this thesis.

2. Focus and Scope of Research 

This research concentrated primarily on the U.S. challenges in recruiting and

developing female firefighters. However, because the Canadian fire service struggles with

parallel challenges, comparative data were included to evaluate Canada’s adaptations and

solutions. The second scoping factor was the selection of an appropriate timeframe. To

properly assess the success rate of female firefighters, it was necessary to understand the 

historical development of the fire service and when inter-gender service began. Thus, the 

analysis focused primarily on legal and operational developments across the United States

from 1974 to the present. This timeframe was critical to this analysis, as the fire service

has a long and proud history; however, female integration has been a relatively new 

phenomenon. This timeframe was selected because before 1974, the opinions and

challenges of women entering this profession were summarily disregarded as not 

applicable or irrelevant. 

While this research examined the design and challenges of the fire service in the 

United States, where systemic and individualized challenges overlap, other nations and

jurisdictions might glean best practices. The data collection for this analysis relied on 

multiple sources from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, such as journal 

articles, published federal and state reports, and local and state policies. Secondary sources 

included articles, books, and other forms of media. Moreover, while this thesis was

concerned mostly with the experiences of American female firefighters, this research did 

consider how some other developed nations have handled their gender imbalances in the

25 Clark and Estes, Turning Research into Results, 14.
11 

fire service, as countries such as Canada and Australia have a nearly identical percentage

of female firefighters per capita in the structural firefighting profession.26

3. Limitations 

This study did not focus on the diverse hiring of minorities but on gender inequality. 

This issue required a separate lens and course of study. The use of the term minority does 

not accurately describe women, as they represent most of the human population. This word

is used here solely in the context of women representing a small proportion of a population 

within the larger personnel base of the firefighting workforce. The challenges faced by 

ethnic minorities differ from those of women in that a man of any given race, ethnicity, or 

national origin will not face that which women exclusively experience as one of the leastrepresented groups in this industry. In a male-dominated profession, men’s issues and 

women’s issues diverge. Though they may have been segregated or marginalized, men of 

varying creeds and races have been serving in the U.S. fire service for over a century.27

Women are still relatively new to the game.

This research did not represent a broad comparison of gender studies in other 

professions, except for the physical requirements of law enforcement’s special weapons 

and tactics (SWAT) members and women in military combat roles. Law enforcement and

the U.S. military are utilized to highlight the commonality of outcomes when men and

women participate in gender-neutral physical competition. The special teams and special

operations roles, like firefighting, are innately physically demanding. These comparisons 

serve to identify one of the primary reasons that so few women qualify for a career in

structural firefighting. Of the relatively few female candidates seeking a career in the fire

service, only a small portion of them qualify in the entrance exams.28

26 “Canadian Fire Department Profile, 2014–2016,” National Fire Protection Association, accessed

March 6, 2021, https://www.nfpa.org//-/media/Files/News-and-Research/Fire-statistics-and-reports/Factsheets/CanadianFireDepartmentFactSheet.pdf.

27 Janice D. Yoder and Lynne L. Berendsen, “‘Outsider within’ the Firehouse: African American and

White Women Firefighters,” Psychology of Women Quarterly 25, no. 1 (2001): 27–36, https://doi.org/10.

1111/1471-6402.00004.

28 “Strength & Stamina: Women in the Seattle Fire Department,” City of Seattle, accessed January 31,

2021, https://www.seattle.gov/cityarchives/exhibits-and-education/online-exhibits/strength-and-staminawomen-in-the-fire-department.
12 

4. Outputs 

This research sought to articulate systemic and individualized obstacles for female

fighters entering and succeeding in the U.S. fire service. This thesis concludes by 

identifying these gaps and challenges as well as promising practices currently implemented

in isolated pockets in the United States. Ultimately, it was this author’s desire to influence 

and educate policy- and decision-makers in how to enhance and evolve the fire service

structure to encourage and fully benefit from the inclusion of women firefighters. Ideally,

a systemic adoption of best/meaningful practices could occur across the United States, and

the fire service could fully integrate and elevate women firefighters in this long-held noble 

profession. 

D. CHAPTER ROADMAP

Chapter II provides a historical perspective on how the pervasive gender imbalance

formed and why it has remained. Chapter III applies a gap analysis to the U.S. fire service

and identifies deficiencies to arrive at a desired state based on societal and political

expectations and pressures. Chapter IV offerslessonsfrom the Canadian fire service, which

has experienced similar challenges with integrating and supporting women, and best

practices for a healthy work environment. Chapter V bridges the identified gaps with policy 

recommendations, best practices, and reasonable means for improving conditions. Two

appendices offer additional resources regarding analytical frameworks and alternative

perspectives on the issues examined in this thesis. 
13 

II. THIS SIDE OF THE GAP: OBSTACLES AND ISSUES FOR

WOMEN FIREFIGHTERS

As women in the role of career firefighting have always been a significantly

underrepresented subgroup, research highlighting their experiences has been limited. Thus, 

this chapter provides a modest historical background of the existing systems and structures

of the American fire service, as well as examines practices in comparable professions such

as law enforcement and the military. 

Hiring more women is usually the goal of policymakers though the issue remains

that few women apply for fire service jobs, and even fewer can meet the minimum

qualifications.29 Firefighters are named for their responsibility in the high-risk, lowfrequency events of structural, vehicular, and wildland firefighting (see Figure 1). This

potentiality makes up only about 2–5 percent of the actual job duties, but it represents the 

standard to which all training qualifies a candidate.30 Firefighters are uniquely equipped 

and trained to perform these specialty services, and every member of every crew must 

maintain competencies in these tasks.

Figure 1. Risk Quadrant.31

29 Moseley, “Women’s Entrance into the Fire Department.” 

30 Barbara R. Russo, “Women Firefighters’ Strategies for Advancement in the Fire Service: Breaking

Down Barriers in Gender-Based Occupations” (PhD diss., Oklahoma State University, 2013), 14.

31 Source: Gordon Graham, “High-Risk, Low-Frequency Events in Public Safety,” Lexipol (blog),

July 15, 2020, https://www.lexipol.com/resources/blog/high-risk-low-frequency-events-in-public-safety/.
14

In most states, fire departments also provide emergency medical services (EMS),

and this type of response accounts for approximately 80 percent of the job.32 Moreover,

the purview of the firefighter includes community outreach and public education,

hazardous materials response, technical rescue, water rescue, fire prevention, and auto

extrication. All members, male and female, are held to identical rigorous physical

standards. This first gate eliminates many candidates. Unlike similar industries—such as

law enforcement, the military, or heavy industry—firefighting demands a requisite level of

strength and stature. The parallel professions have weapons, technology, and equipment to

use as equalizers. This fundamental demand may eliminate a majority of interested

candidates. If a woman is selected and hired, this strength and ability will be tested in the

recruit academy, which is a grueling boot-camp-like paramilitary environment. If

candidates pass this training benchmark, they move into probation, usually a year to two

years of evaluated at-will employment. Challenges for women emerge here, in the

“recruitment phase,” revealing issues with ill-fitting uniforms, a lack of facilities, hazing,

discrimination, and gender bias.

Passing probation and moving into the sworn profession, a whole host of new issues

emerge in the “retention phase.” Within the bulk of the woman firefighter’s career emerge

questions of maternity and parental leave, injuries, and “brass ceiling” difficulties with

promotion, cultural exclusivity, and social pressures of being a minority subgroup. The

period in a firefighter’s career from the academy onward represents the indoctrination

period and tests an individual beyond one’s physicality and endurance and, in many ways,

defines a person’s social status. Very few women in the nation have made a full 30-year

career, and the issues that have prompted their early departures have common themes. In

examining why the U.S. fire service does not have more women, it needs to turn a mirror

on its policies, practices, and behaviors. Culminating in the “retirement phase,” the loss of

physical strength, menopause, and emotional wellness have been identified as cause for

most women’s premature separations from the profession. Identifying underlying issues

32 Women in Fire, “FAQs.”
15 

and examining failed practices are the key to understanding the problem and building 

toward a solution. 

This background chapter is split into four dimensions identified as obstacles, or 

gates, during the firefighter’s career: physicality, socio-cultural dynamics, parenting issues,

and promotional obstacles (see Figure 2). By defining these four compartments, the 

pervasive issues preventing women from joining the service and causing them to leave

become more easily identifiable.

Figure 2. Four Quadrants of Concern for Women Firefighters

A. PHYSICALITY

Physicality is the first gate, as it includes the initial fitness performance tests and

the recruit academy, which are the most significant cause of “wash out” or elimination of 

female recruits. Recognizing that the physical demands of a fire career form a “gateway” 

through which women often cannot pass, this section examines entry-level criteria in the 
16

U.S. military and law enforcement to illuminate similar candidate selection processes.

Specifically, this section compares the physical requirements of the fire service to those of

the military’s special operations branches and law enforcement’s tactical teams, as these

are traditionally gender-neutral fitness tests that bear out similar results to the fire service’s

gender-neutral entry tests. Extensive research exists on gender-specific physical

capabilities, and these data form the criteria for some industries to create gender- or agetailored requirements.

Historical research findings from military, policing, and fire service studies indicate

that recruitment of women in traditionally male-dominated professions is desired;

however, women make up approximately 15 percent of the armed forces.33 As expressed

by U.S. Marine Corps Commandant General David H. Berger in a 2019 senate hearing,

“Furthering gender integration into job fields previously closed to women, expanding

maternity leave, and increasing the intellectual bar for infantry troops are among the

Marine Corps’ top priorities.”34 The military can accurately track data and enforce codes

and policies service-wide, unlike the vast independent municipal agencies of law

enforcement and fire. The limited data on women in firefighting indicate they experience

more frequent workplace injuries and are more likely to retire early with an occupational

injury.35

The fire service is the most gender-imbalanced of these three comparable

professions. While administrators are pressured by elected officials to diversify the

workforce, the goal of increased female recruitment remains elusive. As with grand jury

reports from Los Angeles and Santa Clara County, which have recommended increased

33 Douglas Yeung et al., Recruiting Policies and Practices for Women in the Military: Views from the

Field (Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2017), 25, https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/

RR1538.html.

34 Immanuel Johnson, “Women in More Job Fields, Added Maternity Leave on Top Marine’s Priority

List,” Stars and Stripes, February 24, 2020, https://www.stripes.com/news/women-in-more-job-fieldsadded-maternity-leave-on-top-marine-s-priority-list-1.620075.

35 Brittany S. Hollerbach et al., “Injury Correlates among a National Sample of Women in the U.S. 

Fire Service,” Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 62, no. 8 (August 2020): 634–40,

https://doi.org/10.1097/JOM.0000000000001918.
17 

recruitment efforts, the academic literature also indicates creating and identifying qualified

female candidates as the desired commodity.36 

1. Fire Service Physical Standards—Industrial Athletes

Though research has emphasized the need for these three industries to integrate

women into their workforces, experts differ on the feasibility of increasing female

enrollment and integration. Entry-level physical fitness standards have traditionally been

designed for and favored male candidates while disproportionally disqualifying female

applicants.37 Height and stature requirements have been eliminated in most agencies, and

the move to job-related physical testing is prevailing.38 Some experts view this move—to

create a legally vetted, standardized fitness test, such as the Candidate Physical Ability Test

for the fire service—as degradation or a compromise of established industry standards.39

Firefighting is a rigorous physical profession that does not enjoy the benefit of “equalizers” 

that other comparable professions employ. Tools such as advanced weaponry like a fighter 

jet or equipment to compensate for physical strength like a firearm can assist in neutralizing

performance. While these tools are task oriented, they are not gender specific and can be 

used by either male or female candidates. A lack of access to applicable fire service tools 

too often eliminates many women at the entry level.40 Extensive research on physical 

challenges exists to support this point. Khan, Davis, and Taylor provide data illuminating

this issue in their study published in the Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health.41

Physical requirements as an obstacle to recruitment remain at the forefront of the gender 

disparity. The weight of ladders, hoses, power tools, and unconscious victims do not

36 Smith, “L.A. Has Hired More Female Firefighters”; Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury, Why

Aren’t There More Female Firefighters?; Los Angeles County Civil Grand Jury, 2017–2018 Los Angeles

County Civil Grand Jury Final Report (Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Civil Grand Jury, 2018).

37 Russo, “Women Firefighters’ Strategies,” 13.

38 Yasin A. Khan, Andrea L. Davis, and Jennifer A. Taylor, “Ladders and Lifting: How Gender

Affects Safety Behaviors in the Fire Service,” Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health 32, no. 3 (2017):

206–25, https://doi.org/10.1080/15555240.2017.1358642.

39 Booth and Rohe, “Recruiting for Women and Minorities in the Fire Service.” 

40 City of Seattle, “Strength & Stamina.” 

41 Khan, Davis, and Taylor, “Ladders and Lifting.” 
18 

change, and there is a foundational need for all members of a firefighting crew to perform

at an above-average level. Indeed, firefighting is a varsity sport, and women who

successfully pass the entry-level exams and ongoing performance evaluations have proven 

themselves capable.

2. The Firefighting Candidate Physical Agility Test

The modern firefighter must demonstrate several vitally important physical tasks

on the fire ground, and standardized testing has been developed to create a more equitable 

and measurable fitness standard. The Candidate Physical Agility Test (CPAT) was

developed to standardize the physical entrant exams, as most fire agencies across the

country utilized different metrics and standards.42 The order of CPAT events is as follows: 

stair climb, hose drag, equipment carry, ladder raise and extension, forcible entry, search,

rescue, and ceiling breach and pull.43 

When the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) and International

Association of Fire Chiefs’ Joint Labor Management Wellness Fitness Initiative

(WFI) Task Force first met in December 1996, the members agreed, in part, to

address the issue of physical performance in the fire service.”44 The resulting

CPAT was developed to provide fire departments with a tool to select inherently

physically capable individuals to be trained as firefighters.45

The CPAT is considered by some proponents to be a positive change toward the broad goal

of diversifying the fire service. All assessments are realistic replications of job skills, 

including dragging a body, pulling a hose, breaching a ceiling, throwing a ladder, and

carrying heavy equipment. Though the CPAT assesses a trainee’s ability to carry out these

basic functions, it is often criticized for diminishing the intensely stressful and strenuous 

42 “CPAT at NTN,” National Testing Network, accessed July 21, 2022, https://nationaltestingnetwork.

com/publicsafetyjobs/cpat_info.cfm.

43 National Testing Network. 

44 Joint Labor Management Wellness Fitness Initiative Task Force, Candidate Physical Ability Test, 

2nd ed. (Washington, DC: International Association of Fire Fighters and International Association of Fire

Chiefs, 2007), 51, https://www.iaff.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/CPAT-2nd-Edition.pdf.

45 Joint Labor Management Wellness Fitness Initiative Task Force.
19

activities encountered in real-world fire suppression.46 Agencies across the country have

rejected the use of the CPAT and opted to perform their own in-house physical programs.

However, due to its endorsement at the national level by the IAFF, the CPAT has been

increasingly adopted, especially in major metropolitan areas, because it provides a nondiscriminatory model of fitness testing that replicates job tasks. Such a model serves an

agency in several ways—eliminating the need to fund, produce, and staff an entry-level

physical test and providing the facilities and staff to do so. Also, the use of the CPAT

reduces liability for the host agency because its criteria have been examined and adapted

to be fair and replicable.

Despite the availability and nationwide acceptance of the CPAT as valid, the FDNY

always conducted its own in-house physical exam—the Functional Skills Training test.

Rates of completion varied drastically between male and female participants, with a

passing score of 95 percent for male and 57 percent for female candidates.47 This practice

was challenged in court in 2014, the outcome of which was the department’s ceasing all

physical entry tests because of perceived gender bias.48 The FDNY has since reestablished

candidate fitness tests.

Law enforcement, like the military, can equalize its force using firearms and

weapons, mechanized tools, and technologies. While a female fighter pilot has her aircraft

and a patrol officer her gun and taser, a woman firefighter carries combined weight on her

body of approximately 100–130 pounds, including her protective equipment and selfcontained breathing apparatus. Moreover, on a three-person engine company she may be

solely responsible for throwing a 28-foot ladder; retrieving a 60-pound set of extrication

spreaders; carrying generators, fans, and extinguishers; and advancing charged hose lines.

46 Abby Miller et al., Promising Practices for Increasing Diversity among First Responders

(Washington, DC: Department of Labor, 2016), https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/OASP/legacy/files/

FirstResponders_Full_Report.pdf.

47 Yoav Gonen and Aaron Short, “FDNY Drops Physical Test Requirement amid Low Female Hiring

Rate,” New York Post, December 11, 2014, https://nypost.com/2014/12/11/fdny-drops-physical-testrequirement-amid-low-female-hiring-rate/.

48 Gonen and Short.
20 

B. WORK–HOME SOCIO-CULTURAL INFLUENCES

Socio-cultural issues include gender identity, social out-grouping and isolation in a 

predominantly male workplace, and honor challenges. Women firefighters in both the 

United States and Canada report similar phenomena with social othering, which has been

a source of recent concentration in academic study. 

Over half the fire departments in the United States have no women firefighters on 

staff.49 Assuming that recruiting women into these non-traditional roles is a universally 

desirable goal, this is a daunting statistic after nearly 50 years of female eligibility in

firefighting. Carol Chetkovich offers a socio-cultural analysis of human behaviors and fire

service culture, addressing the identity conflicts women experience when trying to

integrate into a “man’s world.”50 Hyper-masculinized homogenous environments do not

create a neutral space for outsiders to enculturate. “Frat house culture” and the “old-boy 

network” are identified as impediments for women in several sources.51 These monikers 

suggest a dominantly male culture that fails to involve and cultivate women in the 

firehouse, social groups, and leadership roles. It is worthy to question whether women will

ever experience equality in the firehouse culture and whether that dynamic deters

applicants. As indicated in Santa Clara County’s 2020 Civil Grand Jury report, the women

surveyed reported increased hazing, sexual harassment, and exposure to pornography and

denied bids to certain firehouses where women were not welcome.52 

Carol Chetkovich explores these cultural aspects of the fire service. In her book 

Real Heat, she writes,

Firefighters are expected to be large, strong, athletic, unemotional, cool, 

good with tools, physically hard-working, brave, aggressive, competitive in

the manner of team sports, self-confident, and socially skilled in a loud, 

group-oriented environment. The genesis of this image could be argued at

49 Marimon et al., “Diversity and Inclusion Leaders in U.S. Fire Departments,” e13–16.

50 Carol Chetkovich, Real Heat: Gender and Race in the Urban Fire Service (New Brunswick, NJ:

Rutgers University Press, 1997), 52.

51 Lloyd Alaban, “Report: ‘Frat House Culture’ Blamed for Lack of Female Firefighters in Santa

Clara County,” San José Spotlight, December 29, 2020, https://sanjosespotlight.com/report-frat-houseculture-blamed-for-lack-of-female-firefighters-in-santa-clara-county/.

52 Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury, Why Aren’t There More Female Firefighters?
21 

length, but its implications for gender segregation are clear: women will

have a hard time becoming firefighters to the extent that to be a firefighter

means to be a man.53

Chetkovich’s observations highlight the cultural nuances that have long defined the U.S.

fire service, which for 250 years was exclusively male and a closed society. What may be 

partly responsible for this condition is the history of this labor force in the United States.

The fire service has existed as a public service in some form for approximately 300 years.

An inherently dangerous profession, East Coast fire departments in the 1800s and 1900s 

comprised primarily low-paid Irish and Italian immigrants and their descendants. Like New

York and Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles populated their fire

departments with Irish and Italian Americans. Sons would follow in their fathers’ 

footsteps—both a source of familial pride and a tradition that fostered nepotism in the 

modern workforce.54 

1. The Proving Grounds

One question in the onboarding of women firefighters is the efficacy of the 

traditional academy model. This first gate can be examined from a broader view of the 

historical rites of passage. Male rites of passage throughout the world are often defined by 

exhibitions of honor, courage, or physical strength with a component of public 

adjudication. The U.S. military boot camp model sets a precedent for the paramilitary

professions of law enforcement and fire. The methods of enculturating a new member are

archetypal, as identified by Joseph Campbell in the “hero’s journey” (see Figure 3).

53 Chetkovich, Real Heat, 37.

54 Yoder and Berendsen, “‘Outsider within’ the Firehouse.” 
22 

Figure 3. The Hero’s Journey.55

In this way, recruits enter an indoctrination process in the academy and are stripped 

of their individuality and personal comforts, as well as freedom and identity. They are put 

through a series of rigors meant to simulate stress, fear, and confusion and to test their

mental and physical limits, including cognition and strength. An innate hierarchy within

the group, as well as performance competition and social ranking, emerges. Leadership

challenges their integrity, their resolve, and their stamina. Recruits suffer, fail, succeed,

and strive together, and in this struggle, they form a bond. When at last they complete their

training and emerge from this metaphorical underworld, they are created in a new image,

one affiliated with their new in-group. This journey, which resonates a prideful rite of 

passage, may be a model of personal development that favors men. 

55 Adapted from Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces (Mumbai: Yogi Impressions,

2017), 12.
23 

2. The Fire House as a Performance Stage 

The unique characteristics of a homogenous group, working in a high-stress

environment, builds fraternity and a strong sense of shared identity.56 Firefighter humor, 

hazing, and rites of passage have long defined the profession in popular culture.57 Practical

jokes, tricks, and group humiliation are hallmarks of fire station culture. It is often said that

if you are not being teased, they do not like you. Women as outsiders create an unknown 

dynamic, and even well-intending men may exclude a woman from play to avoid offending 

or upsetting her. Often, the unintended consequence is that the woman feels dejected and

excluded. Introducing women into this well-defined dynamic presents myriad challenges,

requiring intentional leadership to guide the transition. It also puts pressure on the company 

officer to monitor these engagements, which often take place out of view of supervisors in

the chain of command. Creating a culture of inclusion that is forward-leaning and

intentional can prevent hurt feelings, in-fighting, and potentially formal complaints and

lawsuits.

Women often report feeling harassed, verbally abused, and discriminated against.

The traditional model of bonding—often including pranks like dumping water buckets on 

new personnel, hiding their bedding, or drawing on their bodies in permanent marker while

they sleep—is commonplace in the fire service. However, being ordered to perform

humiliating tasks or assignments, having your underwear frozen and displayed on the 

flagpole, or finding dead animals in your locker cross over into hostile work environments, 

even if all members consent to the ritual. The Los Angeles Fire Department has been under 

significant scrutiny in recent years for initiation “pranks” that have resulted in large-scale

lawsuits and terminations.58 These included defecating in a women’s shower stall and

urinating in a woman’s mouthwash bottle. This level of hostile behavior sends a strong 

56 James Ward and Diana Winstanley, “Watching the Watch: The UK Fire Service and Its Impact on

Sexual Minorities in the Workplace,” Gender, Work & Organization 13, no. 2 (2006): 193–219, https://doi.

org/10.1111/j.1468-0432.2006.00304.x.

57 Larry Moran and Gene Roth, “Humor in Context: Fire Service and Joking Culture,” New Horizons

in Adult Education and Human Resource Development 25, no. 3 (Summer 2013): 14–26, https://doi.org/10.

1002/nha3.20028.

58 Los Angeles County Civil Grand Jury, Grand Jury Final Report. 
24 

message to the aspiring members that they are not welcome, and they are not safe—even

while firefighters often say, “We eat our young.” 

3. The In-Group/Out-Group Narrative 

Controlling processes inform the identity of the culture in any workplace, and the 

fire service is no different. Anthropologist Laura Nader defines controlling processes as

follows: “how people’s behavior, actions, and at times, thoughts, are controlled by social

and cultural mechanisms, and how people avoid, resist, or invent counter-controls.”59

Invisible boundaries and belief systems guiding peoples’ behavior are cultural norms 

unique to their in-group. When recruits graduate from the fire academy and enter the 

firehouse environment, they are still in the nominal group, or out-group. As with members

of elite military forces or SWAT teams, new firefighters—called rookies, probies, or boots,

in various parts of the country—must prove their skills and abilities in the field. For

firefighters, that proving ground will be a working fire. When a probationary firefighter is

with a new crew, the in-group gauges the outsiders’ talents and courage in a prescient

moment in the field. This gate cannot be replicated or simulated; it is a demonstration of 

grit and strength. This passage is a natural part of the hero’s journey, as described by 

Campbell, a step in the transformation. Unfortunately, this process is not always clear-cut.

Within the obscurities of this “becoming” are many opportunities for hurt feelings, 

misunderstandings, cruelty, and bullying. What to some may be perceived as joking or 

teasing to the receiver may feel like crushing humiliation or taunting. Membership in the 

fire station in-group is an elusive aspiration. Recent discrimination cases, injunctions, and

lawsuits are evidence of this ongoing reality.60 Women often report that their direct

complaints are met with dismissal, retaliation, and alienation, and turning to the legal

system for renumeration is often the only viable avenue.61

59 Chris Hebdon, “Activating Pedagogy: Civics Lessons from Laura Nader’s Teaching,” Kroeber

Anthropological Society Papers 102, no. 1 (2013): 40–61.

60 Los Angeles County Civil Grand Jury, Grand Jury Final Report. 

61 Yoder and Berendsen, “‘Outsider within’ the Firehouse.” 
25 

C. FAMILY PLANNING AND PARENTAL LEAVE

Women experience different issues related to parenting in the fire service, including 

challenges with a lack of supportive protocols around pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding. 

In the long term, childcare is often a struggle with the long shift work and unpredictable 

schedules around emergency work and the fire season. Family planning has been identified

as a deterrent to recruitment and a cause for early departure from the career.

A significant challenge faced by women in the fire service is the very fact they are

a minority subgroup. Specific issues affecting them are of little effect or consequence to

the larger organization. If maternity policies and pregnancy concerns affect fewer than 4 

percent of the workforce, they become less relevant. If the boots, turnouts, and protective 

equipment fit most people, they are unlikely to be replaced. Women have a smaller voice 

in their agencies and labor unions. Further formal research validating the safety concerns 

and consequences of inadequate policies will allow departments to make better choices on 

behalf of this minority group. 

Studies indicate that anticipated challenges with family planning have a deterrent

effect on women’s entering the fire service.62 Not all women intend to give birth, of course,

so these issues affect only a portion of the women in the workforce. Many agencies across

the nation do not have any comprehensive plan for pregnancy and modified duty, nor 

policies to support the woman in the postpartum phase, including lactation space and a 

return-to-work plan. When a female firefighter becomes pregnant, she often stays online 

in operations longer than she would in a different industry. During this time, she is

potentially compromising the crew’s integrity, as well as exposing the fetus to toxins, 

dangerous pathogens, hazardous materials, and other immediate dangers to life and

health.63 These concerns extend into the postpartum phase, when a recovering mother may

be breastfeeding. 

62 Parkinson, Duncan, and Archer, “Barriers and Enablers to Women.” 

63 Bradley A. Evanoff and Linda Rosenstock, “Reproductive Hazards in the Workplace: A Case Study

of Women Firefighters,” American Journal of Industrial Medicine 9, no. 6 (1986): 503–15, https://doi.org/

10.1002/ajim.4700090602.
26

Maternity and parental leave are reported among the key issues deterring women

from entering professional firefighting and are noted as a primary reason for early departure

from the job.64 Recognizing this gap the military has attempted to address it with recent

policy improvements.65 Often, no modified duty alternative exists, a woman finds herself

out of paid-leave accruals, and she must return to shift work. These work dynamicsseparate

mother from child during critical baby-bonding and may not leave the mother time to heal

from birth trauma or C-section surgery or to manage the many potential complications of

motherhood. Notably, breastfeeding mothers are compelled to express breastmilk at work

and find a place to store the milk discreetly; nevertheless, sleep deprivation and stress

associated with firefighting duties can cause disruptions in milk supply and put tremendous

stress on the newborn in feeding.66

In 1986, shortly after women entered the fire service, a study was conducted to

examine the threats and hazards they faced during pregnancy. While the comprehensive

examination—Reproductive Hazards in the Workplace: A Case Study of Women

Firefighters—revealed high risks to both the mother and fetus, over three decades later,

most labor unions and departments have not yet instituted a comprehensive plan to provide

continuity in pay or benefits while a woman firefighter is pregnant or is caring for an

infant.67 Even though “reasonable accommodations” are offered in some states, pregnancy

is treated as a disability, and traditional paid maternity leave, as seen in corporate and

academic settings, does not exist.68 Four and a half decades after women entered the

workforce, little decisive policy exists even from the IAFF.69 The Federal Emergency

Management Agency has recently funded studies through the University of Arizona

examining stress, cancer risks, and the effects of toxins on the fetus and in nursing mothers’ 

64 Willing, On the Line.

65 Yeung et al., Recruiting Policies and Practices for Women in the Military.

66 U.S. Fire Administration, Emerging Health and Safety Issues among Women in the Fire Service

(Emmitsburg, MD: U.S. Fire Administration, 2019), 34, https://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/

publications/emerging_health_safety_issues_women_fire_service.pdf.

67 Evanoff and Rosenstock, “Reproductive Hazards in the Workplace.”

68 Evanoff and Rosenstock.

69 Evanoff and Rosenstock.
27

breastmilk.70 These health risks, as well as the lack of substantive support for pregnancy,

childbearing, and childrearing, are an ongoing and under-acknowledged issue in the

industry, defining the fire service as one of the least accommodating and supportive

workplaces among standard Equal Opportunity Employment Commission–governed

professions.71

In California, leave is provided through the individual’s accrued vacation and sick

leave hours, which vary greatly depending on the individual’s age and tenure in the fire

service. The Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 is a federally mandated umbrella that

provides the individual with the opportunity to utilize vacation and sick leave, but no

additional paid family leave is provided.72 State legislation also lacks teeth in these areas.

For example, the California Family Rights Act overlaps with the federal act by allowing

employees to use expired accrued leave, but it provides no further financial support to

them.73 Because most firefighters do not pay into Social Security, many do not have access

to short-term disability, which would provide 55 percent of pay and continued benefit

accrual.

Once leave dries up, there are few other options for women firefighters and their

families. Some unions offer an optional limited term disability. Because a healthy

pregnancy does not constitute a disability under this program’s definition, it does not apply

to most personnel. Besides the leave limitations, if the new mother and child require

extended bonding time or a more complicated physical recovery, they will have nothing

left in their “leave bank.” After sick leave and vacation have been exhausted, mothers are

obliged to go absent without pay. This status requires the individual to pay a percentage of

one’s insurance and receive no income during the time it is applied. Some women

70 “Researchers Studying Stress, Cancer Risk and Reproductive Toxicity in Women Firefighters,” 

University of Arizona Cancer Center, January 27, 2021, https://cancercenter.arizona.edu/news/2021/01/

researchers-studying-stress-cancer-risk-and-reproductive-toxicity-women-firefighters.

71 “EEOC Suggests Ways to Boost Women in Public Safety Jobs,” FEDweek, July 18, 2018,

https://www.fedweek.com/issue-briefs/eeoc-suggests-ways-to-boost-women-in-public-safety-jobs/.

72 Family Medical Leave Act of 1993, Pub. L. No. 103–3, 107 Stat. 6 (1993), https://www.govinfo.

gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-107/pdf/STATUTE-107-Pg6.pdf.

73 California Family Rights Act of 1993, Cal. Gov’t Code §§ 12945.1, 12945.2, and 19702.3 (1993).
28 

firefighters, accustomed to comfortable pay, have had to apply for WIC, food stamps, and

MediCal after the birth of their children. This approach results in long-term financial

hardships, debt, and loss of seniority—seen by women in the field as discriminatory or 

disparate treatment because it punishes only female employees for “choosing” to have 

children. 

A lack of a comprehensive maternity policy and parental leave plans inhibits the 

initial recruitment of female firefighters, potentially compromises their income in the long 

term, affects promotional opportunities, and likely shortens the career span of female

firefighters. With many agencies seeking to recruit more women and bring their

percentages up beyond 4 percent, this issue requires immediate and focused attention for

legal, practical, and ethical reasons.

D. PROMOTIONAL OBSTACLES

Promotional challenges are another distinct category, as women firefighters often

suffer the cumulative effect of being denied desirable bids for busy firehouses, needing to

outperform their competition, and experiencing distrust from subordinates unaccustomed

to seeing women in a role of tactical leadership.74 The brass ceiling refers to the invisible

barriers to upward advancement in high-ranking positions in the military, law enforcement, 

and fire and is a play on the corporate “glass ceiling” that women encounter. With so few

women in the career fire service nationwide, their representation in the company officer

and chief officer ranks is negligible. Current data indicate that only approximately 180 

women in the U.S. career fire service are chief officers.75 That infinitesimal number in

proportion to 380,000 career firefighters highlights the challenges women experience in

finding role models in high-ranking positions. Being the only woman in a classroom,

training, or drill adds a dimension of pressure, but being the only woman in a promotional 

74 Marcos O. Marimon et al., “Diversity and Inclusion Leaders in U.S. Fire Departments Impact the

Type and Number of Diversity and Inclusion Programs Offered,” Journal of Occupational and

Environmental Medicine 62, no. 1 (January 2020): e13–16, https://doi.org/10.1097/JOM.000

0000000001780.

75 Women in Fire, “FAQs.” 
29

process may add additional stressors. Studies from the military sector have indicated that

soldiers, too, have an intrinsic distrust of women in combat leadership.76

In some agencies, the pathway to promotion is blocked with innumerable obstacles.

Women are often alienated and marginalized from the point of entry, in the academy and

into probation. Surprisingly, having other women in the workplace can also create toxic

levels of competition and distrust. Studies indicate multiple incidents of women sabotaging

other women in the fire service.77 Some women are often so focused on maintaining the

status quo and fitting in that they undermine the success of another woman or avoid

association with her. There is no prescription for firefighters seeking allegiances. It may be

a male colleague, administrative personnel, or a city representative who provides support

and guidance to the female firefighter, but it will take someone open to seeing a different

face at the table to recognize the potential talent pool.

Strong leadership from both male and female leaders is imperative to set a course

for the agency. Researchers have identified some of the characteristics of successful female

chief officers, and the findings reflect those of Angela Duckworth’s study on grit. Female

fire chiefs tend to demonstrate passion and perseverance. As Duckworth quips, “Most

dazzling human achievements are, in fact, the aggregate of countless individual elements,

each of which is, in a sense, ordinary.”78 It is possible that because women in the fire

service face extreme criticism and skepticism before they even begin their careers, the

series of ordinary feats adds up to a heightened level of accomplishment. Possibly, because

they are marginalized and doubted, they work hard to build up their knowledge, skills, and

abilities. When it comes to promotional opportunities, they may be better prepared to

perform in environments where education, eloquence, patience, and communication are

emphasized. These are characteristics that may be perceived as weaknesses in the firehouse

setting, but in a promotional test, they are invaluable.

76 Micah Ables, “Women Aren’t the Problem. Standards Are,” Modern War Institute, February 5,

2019, https://mwi.usma.edu/women-arent-problem-standards/.

77 Yoder and Berendsen, “‘Outsider within’ the Firehouse.”

78 Duckworth, Grit, 83.
30

In her dissertation, Janet Contursi explores the commonalities among executive chief

officers. Her interviews with female fire chiefs revealed they

were personable, loved what they were doing, were committed to their

organization’s overall mission, willing to help their co-workers succeed and

ambitious. The differences were in the environment in which they were

operating and, most prominently, in the attitudes of the leaders in their

respective organizations. Those attitudes dictated policies, procedures and how

women were viewed, accepted and supported—or not. Each of the women was

all intelligent, resilient, and possessed a great sense of humor.79

Humor again finds its way into the narrative. For line firefighters, humor is a coping

mechanism, a way to bond to with one another amidst the horror of things witnessed and

experienced. Humor is a way to show humility and vulnerability in an environment of bravado

and imperviousness. For chief officers, specifically women chiefs, good humor is as much a

survival mechanism as it is a characteristic of in-group affiliation. A woman at the top ranks

has likely experienced decades of disenfranchisement, scrutiny, and adversity. The

commonality of a “greatsense of humor” islikely a good predictor ofsuccess and survivability

for a woman in the fire service. Perhaps humor should be measured in entry-level applicants

as it has proven a recurring theme in fire service success.

Contursi also examines the different ways female chief officers perform in their role,

as she parallels her experience as a firefighter in the U.S. Navy. She observes their shared

hallmarks of success:

Each of them had found ways to navigate, and prevail, in the choppy waters of

their traditionally male-dominated organizations. What stood out most for me

was their ability to create strong working relationships, network and find

mentors—both male and female—who would eventually help propel them to

the next level. Something that was very present in my military experience—

and lacking in my fire service experience—is the absolute expectation that

leaders inspire, encourage and support their subordinates just as much as they

supervise and manage them. Incidents involving discrimination, harassment or

inappropriate sexual behaviors were not tolerated at any level in the military.

79 Janet Contursi, “Breaking the ‘Brass Ceiling’: Women Face Unique Obstacles in the Fire Service,” 

FireRescue1, September 18, 2019, https://www.firerescue1.com/leadership/articles/breaking-the-brassceiling-women-face-unique-obstacles-in-the-fire-service-am49Nem3qPWdEBWO/.
31 

This zero-tolerance policy was not always the norm, but since instituted,

conditions and morale in the military have improved.80

The fire service often refers to itself as a paramilitary organization, as evidenced by its ranks,

structural hierarchies, chains of command, and boot-camp-style academies. Contursi makes an

important observation that the military enforces a zero-tolerance policy for incidents of bad

behavior, in contrast to the fire service, which has a record of permissiveness. Increasing

awareness, reporting mechanisms, and consequences for inappropriate behaviors reduces

liability for the organization and brings the fire service more in line with professional working

conditions in the private sector and in educational environments. Many things that happen in

the firehouse and on the line would not be tolerated in the military. 

Other military normsthat may benefit the fire service include transparency around bids

and station placements. Many organizations uphold a practice of competitive bidding for

stations. However, women firefighters in the United States and Canada report being blocked

from desirable stations and busy houses.81 Such treatment can hamper the person’s ability to

acquire training and access to more coveted equipment, like the ladder trucks or heavy rescue.

Double houses and battalion houses are often desirable assignments, as their personnel

communicate more directly with leadership and have access to more organized training and

more fires. Many departments send a clear message that women are not welcome in certain

houses.82 This form of bid-blocking can create a case for hostility and discrimination. 

E. SUMMARY

By re-engineering some of the existing obstacles on the road to promotion, women

firefighters may have access to increased wages and benefits, more control over their daily

working environment, and a higher level of job satisfaction. Valuing the individual

contributions that women bring to the workforce fosters inclusion and may result in increased

retention. Chapters III helps to define the underlying knowledge, motivation, and

organizational influences contributing to the current situation.

80 Contursi, “Women in Leadership,” 75.

81 Parkinson, Duncan, and Archer, “Barriers and Enablers to Women.” 

82 Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, A Fire Service for All. 
32

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33 

III. WOMEN IN THE U.S. FIRE SERVICE: A GAP ANALYSIS

It has been nearly 50 years since the first woman stepped onto a fire engine in a 

paid capacity. Thousands of sworn uniformed women have made their passage through the 

ranks. Nevertheless, little effort has been made to accommodate their presence in the fire

station, and no meaningful path forward is being paved. There are pockets of inclusivity

throughout the country, but the workforce is and will continue to be predominantly male.

It is reasonable to assume this data pattern is a forecast of the future, so building a more

welcoming and integrated model for inclusion involves identifying gaps between the

current circumstances and the future the fire service wishes to realize. 

The previous chapters identified major obstacles for women’s career success in the 

U.S. fire service. A gap analysis is useful in examining the space between the current reality

and the desired state (see Figure 4). It considers three important factors: knowledge, 

motivations, and organizational influences—dimensions that examine basic objectives and

help to determine whether they are being met. If they are not, the analysis can identify

needs and areas for improvement. 

Figure 4. Gap between the Current and Desired State.83

83 Source: “What Is Gap Analysis: Definition, Method and Template with Example,” QuestionPro

(blog), accessed September 23, 2022, https://www.questionpro.com/blog/gap-analysis/. 
34 

A. KNOWLEDGE: WHAT ARE THE CURRENT CONDITIONS? 

Women want to be firefighters. Despite years of low numbers and no indication

that enrollments will significantly increase, trends in female applicants show only a slight 

increase.84 Social media campaigns, television, and public outreach to youth groups may

increase the number of applicants, but the numbers of successful hires continue to stagnate.

The fire service will expand inclusion and integration, but itsspeed and success will depend 

on how well fire service leaders and policymakers respond to long-standing and emerging

challenges. Universities and colleges, corporations, and businesses, as well as the military

and law enforcement, show increased female membership over the past three decades.85 It

stands to reason that women will continue to be a part of the fire service, and the tendency 

to exclude them from the profession’s priorities and identity is counter-productive. Women

are in the back row of the family portrait, and there is an opportunity for them to be

acknowledged as equal members of the team. 

B. MOTIVATIONS: WHY DO WE NEED MORE WOMEN?

Raising percentages and improving the optics on social demographics remain

apparent motivations for political influencers and community leaders. The question of why

it is necessary emerges. If the fire service has functioned successfully without women in

the ranks for two centuries, perhaps it is fine as it is. Notably, pressures to diversify the 

workforce persist, and women want to enter the workforce. Indeed, they have been granted

the rights to qualify under a set of pre-determined, gender-neutral criteria. Furthermore, 

fire service agencies are motivated to fulfill the wishes of their represented community

leaders. As it stands, even if organizations are committed to doubling their hiring of female

candidates, these are changes that will take decades or generations to recalibrate.

Because she can, does she want to? The reality in the historical trends indicates that

over 47 years, few women ever apply for the fire service. This research indicates that major

barriers to women’s applying for the work mirror the same factors deterring women in

84 Juan Byron, “Career Paramedic-Firefighter Staffing Problems: Is Recruiting Women Part of the

Solution?” (master’s thesis, Naval Postgraduate School, 2018), http://hdl.handle.net/10945/61323.

85 Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Men Accounted for About 75 Percent.” 
35 

other public safety careers and the military. Women surveyed doubt their own physical 

abilities see the profession as an exclusively masculine job and are deterred by the danger, 

manual labor, and social dynamics.86 Overnight shift work is reported as undesirable, 

perhaps because being away from home is hard on children and on romantic relationships. 

Women who have the enhanced physical and performative capabilities to be firefighters

likely have a variety of other less demanding professional options. 

If organizations want to increase the number of women in the fire service,

expanding job descriptions or providing specialized work may be effective. An affiliated

EMS program with single-role medics affiliated with the fire service can bring up the

numbers of women in uniformed positions. The higher percentages of women seen

employed by the Los Angeles Fire Department (13 percent), the San Francisco Fire

Department (15 percent), and the Minneapolis Fire Department (17 percent) are partially

due to counting non-suppression female paramedics.87 Such a simple change is a positive 

step for agencies motivated to increase numbers of women in the ranks, including those 

who cannot perform the rigorous duties of structural firefighters.88

C. ORGANIZATIONAL INFLUENCE: HOW DO WE FOSTER SYSTEMIC

CHANGE?

Organizational change takes one of two forms: internal change, by in-house 

procedure and policy reform, or external change, by forces outside the agency such as

through legislation or court cases. Internally motivated change is likely to be less

disruptive, as the organization can tailor the evolution to its specific needs and desires. An 

outside force, on the other hand, may try to make sweeping change via broad public policy 

or a generalized legal rule for widespread application. While all the change needs to be 

within a reasonable spectrum, internally motivated change is likely to be most successful

86 Michael Totty, “Why Aren’t There More Women Firefighters?,” UCLA Anderson Review, October

9, 2019, https://anderson-review.ucla.edu/firefighters/.

87 Smith, “L.A. Has Hired More Female Firefighters”; Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury, Why

Aren’t There More Female Firefighters?; Joni Thome and Frances Baillon, “Minneapolis Fire Dept—Kris

Lemon’s Story,” Insider Exclusive, accessed September 4, 2022, https://insiderexclusive.com/minneapolisfire-dept-kris-lemons-story/.

88 Byron, “Career Paramedic-Firefighter Staffing Problems.” 
36 

and have a lasting effect. Organizations that have direct control of the shape and form of

their evolution are more invested in its long-term success. Imposed, rigid rules are often

rejected and subverted, causing an inverse affect to the desired policy. 

With a focus on both racial diversification and gender integration, the fire service

has an opportunity to harness massive pools of untapped talent and reshape its identity.

Taking ownership and demonstrating accountability will allow leaders to determine the 

methods and approach, without being subject to external pressures and hiring mandates. It

should be a goal to strive for acceptance, not just tolerance.

D. SUMMARY

This chapter has analyzed the gap between the current and desired state in the fire

service, toward fostering an environment that feels welcoming to women. Specifically, it

summarized what needs to change, why it needs to change, and how to implement change

in the fire service based on organizational and leadership principles. The following chapter

explores successes and failures in the Canadian fire service and offers several best practices

in fostering a hospitable environment for women in the U.S. fire service. By redefining the 

problems and definitions, then taking best practices from similar industries, and then

reaffirming leaders’ intent, the fire service can begin to bridge the gap between where it

was and where it wants to be in the future.
37 

IV. LESSONS FROM THE CANADIAN FIRE SERVICE

AND BEST PRACTICES

Canada is a nation slightly larger than the neighboring United States but has a career

and volunteer firefighting force of 152,650 personnel.89 Of that total, approximately 6,717 

firefighters are women. Female firefighters in Canada share many similar experiences with

their southern neighbors. In recent years, legal battles have arisen citing workplace safety,

sexual discrimination, and sexual assault among fire service members.90 Moreover, the 

U.S. military has also faced these issues among its ranks and offers lessons for its public 

safety counterparts. This chapter explores lessons from two of Canada’s metropolitan fire

departments, as well as offers best practices gleaned from the fire service and the military, 

applicable to women firefighters in the United States.

A. LESSONS FROM THE NORTH

The Canadian government and the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs (CAFC)

have partnered to create panels to explore and examine gender bias and equal opportunities 

in fire and rescue services. Many of these recommendations have been adopted across the 

nation’s 3,500 departments, with varying degrees of success. The CAFC has created a 

Women Fire Chiefs and Company Officers Network, which has helped to develop a 

standardized diversity and inclusion policy.91 This association and subgroup serve to

gather and collate data and research from around the country to inform administrators and

officers in provinces and municipalities. One of the many foci of the CAFC’s diversity and

inclusion policy is the recognition that communities are calling for a representative

workforce. 

Canadian statistics on personnel demographics have also been established by a 

methodology and the Psycho-Social Ethnography in the Commonplace (P-SEC) Research

89 Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, A Fire Service for All, 6.

90 Parkinson, Duncan, and Archer, “Barriers and Enablers to Women.” 

91 “Home Page,” Fire Fighting in Canada, accessed February 18, 2021, https://www.firefighting

incanada.com/; Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, “Diversity and Inclusion.” 
38 

Group, whose publication, “Othering of Full-Time and Volunteer Women Firefighters in

the Canadian Fire Services,” warns that “women firefighters mostly operate in a patriarchal

context; they are often ignored, harassed, and treated poorly due to the intersectionality of 

factors.”92 Canadian fire leadership has recognized that the gender disparity is significant,

resembling comparable societies, including the United Kingdom, the United States, and

Australia, but few studies have focused directly on Canadian female firefighters.93 

To determine how the policies served the rank and file when applied, this section

examines two major Canadian cities: Vancouver and Toronto. This brief investigation

compares practices that have been effective with those that have been unsuccessful. These

two cities have a higher population of women firefighters than most other regions of the 

country, so they have developed measurable systems and structures that contrast their

Canadian—and American—counterparts. 

1. Vancouver 

Vancouver has been a source of public attention because workplace hostility and

othering have resulted in a large-scale investigation and lawsuits, after “a firefighter who

quit the force last year says in her seven years at [Vancouver Fire Rescue Services] she 

witnessed bullying, harassment, sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, gaslighting, 

victim blaming/shaming, gear tampering, inadequate facilities for women, inadequate

protective equipment for women and extreme levels of toxic masculinity.”94 These

criminal behaviors resulted in the loss of one person’s employment, but the long-term

outcome from societal perceptions might become deterrents for future applicants. 

Moreover, the Vancouver fire chief states that the selection rate for new female recruits is

directly proportional to the number of women applying. 

92 Lynne Gouliquer, Carmen Poulin, and Jennifer McWilliams, “Othering of Full-Time and Volunteer

Women Firefighters in the Canadian Fire Services,” Qualitative Sociology Review 16, no. 3 (2020): 48–69,

https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8077.16.3.04.

93 Robyn Urback, “Robyn Urback: Fire Services Plans to Hire More Women and Minorities Because

Diversity Is Good,” National Post, July 15, 2013, https://nationalpost.com/opinion/robyn-urback-fireservices-plans-to-hire-more-women-and-minorities-because-diversity-is-good.

94 Penny Daflos, “‘It’s Not Acceptable’: Vancouver Fire Chief Addresses Workplace Bullying,

Harassment Allegations,” CTV News, December 13, 2019, https://bc.ctvnews.ca/it-s-not-acceptablevancouver-fire-chief-addresses-workplace-bullying-harassment-allegations-1.4726507.
39 

The situation appears to be pervasive across Canada and the neighboring United

States.95 Very few women want to work as firefighters, and even fewer are physically or 

logistically able. Public impressions that the workplace is hostile, unwelcoming, or 

dangerous may shrink those numbers even more. When attention turns to recruitment, and

young potential candidates are research the industry, these negative conditions may serve

to dissuade young women from a career in which mortal danger, toxic exposures, and

hostile work environs appear to be the norm. 

2. Toronto 

Toronto Fire Services boasts what appears to be the most successful record in

recruitment and retention of women. Under direct order from the city government in 2015, 

Toronto Fire Services set about a massive campaign to improve and increase its diversity

profile. Measuring data was the focus, and city managers recognized that merely stating

the intention was insufficient for measuring the goal with reliable metrics.96 This push has

placed Toronto Fire Services into the limelight asthe nation’s most diverse fire department,

with a female firefighter population of 15 percent in every class hired since 2013.97 

One of the frameworks Toronto adopted from CAFC recommendations was the 

notion that “if you can’t see it, you can’t be it.”98 Its leadership has recognized that the 

presence of more women in the field stepping off rigs on calls and attending public 

education events serves as a potent recruitment tool. Toronto fighters also recognize the

implications of the department’s majority white-male foundation: 

Back in the bad old days, it was a kind of Irish Protestant bastion. . . . There

was a lot of nepotism—there were sons who were hired. If your father was

on, you could get on, if your uncle was on, you could get on. Back in the

95 Kathryn Sinden et al., “A Qualitative Study on the Experiences of Female Firefighters,” Work 45,

no. 1 (2013): 97–105, https://doi.org/10.3233/WOR-121549.

96 Matthew Pegg, “Diversity and Recruitment Update—Operations Firefighter Recruit Class 2017–

02” (official memorandum, Toronto: Toronto Fire Services, 2018).

97 Contursi, “Breaking the ‘Brass Ceiling.’”

98 Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, “Diversity and Inclusion.” 
40 

day, Toronto was so heavily white, that ethnic makeup just became

entrenched in the department.99

Toronto has pivoted with public pressure to actively alter the identity of its department, 

serving as a success story by measurable standards. 

Toronto instituted a Firefighter Career Access Program, which allows men and

women with no formal firefighting training to qualify for the hiring process while

committing to continuing training. The department has also eliminated the term “fireman” 

from its lexicon, always using the gender-neutral term “firefighter” to foster a sense of 

inclusivity. It bears repeating that Toronto Fire Services currently has the highest 

percentage of female firefighters in Canada, at 15 percent.100

B. BEST PRACTICES FROM THE FIRE SERVICE

The following subsections detail concepts that other fire services—including the 

U.S. fire service—can adopt from the Canadian fire service, the private sector, and

academia to improve the environment to attract and retain women firefighters.

1. Sharing the “Brotherhood” 

Fire departments are built on the concept of fraternity. The Canadian Association

of Fire Chiefs writes, 

Traditionally, this “tight culture” has served the firefighting purpose well,

as team members rely heavily on one another in life-threatening fire and

rescue operations. Although this reliance still exists, the nature of fire

service has changed and today, there is an ever-broadening range of roles

including increased calls for community safety, public service, high-quality

emergency medical care, and non-emergency assistance. This evolution has

required the fire service to develop additional specialized skills, including 

interpersonal communications and interaction with diverse audiences, and

to recognize that an inclusive and respectful workplace is an essential

99 Patrick Cain, “Investigation: Slowly, Toronto Firefighters Become More Diverse,” Global News,

March 17, 2015, https://globalnews.ca/news/1872085/slowly-toronto-firefighters-become-more-diverse/.

100 Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, A Fire Service for All. 
41 

element of a psychologically safe and mentally healthy work

environment.101

Awareness of these factors can help foster an environment where women feel respected

and safe—and a part of the family. Grounded, well-connected people are more productive, 

happier, and more likely to stay in the organization. 

2. Defining Diversity

Diversity extends beyond racial and gender demographics. Diversity encompasses

all aspects of the human experience, including origin and ancestry, language and culture,

faith and religion, sexuality, and age. Firefighters of various racial backgrounds have 

populated the fire service for over a century, and while their trials and struggles cannot be 

overstated, they have made strides in the industry. Women, on the other hand, have been

sparsely represented for almost 50 years, and the statistical data gathered for this research

lead to further questions about the success of the integration to date. Highlighting the 

importance of welcoming women into the fold of the fire service, a longitudinal study of 

women in corporate leadership has identified how their inclusion in socially diverse work

environments can improve morale and innovation, as well as demonstrate greater financial

successes for organizations.102

Aside from primary divisions of race and gender, diversity of thought seems to be 

the most relevant consideration in group dynamics. Senior members question the work

ethic and integrity of the millennial generation while junior members confront the stale and

outdated habits and traditions of the fire service—and lack of technological savvy—with

disdain and disconnection. One’s worldview and life experience manifest in behavior and

relatability. Thus, socioeconomic upbringing and social caste may have a greater influence

on individuals than their nation of origin, skin color, or sex. As Katherine Phillips points 

out, diversity offers myriad benefits for an organization: “Diversity enhances creativity. It

encourages the search for novel information and perspectives, leading to better decision101 Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, A Fire Service for All, 7.

102 Katherine W. Phillips, “How Diversity Makes Us Smarter,” Greater Good, September 18, 2017,

https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_diversity_makes_us_smarter.
42 

making and problem-solving. Diversity can improve the bottom line of companies and lead

to unfettered discoveries and breakthrough innovations.”103 Diversity as a lens must be

broad enough to see beyond superficial characteristics and recognize the vast resources

available to leaders when they cast a broad net.

3. Defining Equity

Equity is a term frequently used in modern business and politics. It focuses less on 

an equal outcome than on equal access. Equity is

the fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for all people, 

while at the same time striving to identify and eliminate barriers that have

prevented the full participation of some groups. Improving equity involves 

increasing justice and fairness within the procedures and processes of 

institutions or systems, as well as in their distribution of resources. Tackling

equity issues requires an understanding of the root causes of outcome 

disparities within our society.104

As a starting point, with recruitment for instance, the person who has never been inside a 

fire station may have a more difficult path in learning the ways of the fire service than one 

who grew up in a fire service family. Equity is the notion that some individuals may need

different resources from others. This is often true of women seeking entrance into the 

industry, and additional exposure, mentorship, and guidance are needed to bring them up

to the starting line. It does not seek to provide preferential treatment but a fair and balanced

chance at success. 

4. Defining Inclusion

The Canadian Fire Chiefs Association succinctly recognizes the importance of 

leaders being accountable and intentional with integration and inclusion. Inclusion starts

with merit-based achievement and respect for those who earn it. The Canadian Fire Chiefs

identified, “In an inclusive department, the leadership, organizational structure, training, 

policies, and procedures remove barriers to full participation while they protect and

103 Phillips, “How Diversity Makes Us Smarter.” 

104 Laura King, “Diversifying,” Canadian Firefighter, February 1, 2016, https://www.cdnfirefighter.

com/toronto-aims-to-reflect-multicultural-community-22423/.
43 

promote equal opportunity, so everyone can succeed.”105 Inclusion may be the pinnacle of 

diversification because it represents functionality. Inclusion is the opposite of othering and

a level above tolerance. Inclusion means having disparate parts moving as one, as

represented in the vision of a winning team.

C. BEST PRACTICES FROM THE U.S. MILITARY

The U.S. military experiences some similar issues to the fire service in retaining its

female members. A recent study of women in the military by the Government 

Accountability Office identified six key issues in women’s leaving the armed forces: work

schedules, organizational culture, family planning, dependent care, deployments, and

sexual assault.106 As the professions are relatively similar and share a similar gender ratio,

it may be reasonable to assume that women firefighters experience these issues, too, but no 

comprehensive studies have documented them. Nevertheless, the military has gathered data

and identified patterns of concern among women who leave the service ahead of their

original schedule. By concentrating on these six reasons—which uncannily mirror the

concerns of women in the fire service—policymakers can adapt policy to avoid pitfalls.107

1. Work Schedules

Each fire department has its unique work schedules that cannot be altered to serve

a subgroup. The part of thisissue that can be addressed is the facilities and accommodations 

a woman uses while at work. Separate sleeping accommodations reduce the threat of 

unwelcome sexual advances in the dorm and reduce the uncomfortable intimacies of a cogendered bedroom. Spending 48 hours in a common dorm or without access to a private

toilet stall is an unacceptable condition for women to endure. Focus on standardizing 

workspaces for gender separation when appropriate. 

105 Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, A Fire Service for All, 8.

106 Brenda S. Farrell, Female Active-Duty Personnel: Guidance and Plans Needed for Recruitment

and Retention Efforts, GAO-20-61 (Washington, DC: Government Accountability Office, 2020), 28,

https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-20-61.pdf. 

107 Patricia Kime, “Women Nearly 30% More Likely to Leave the Military Than Men, New Report

Finds,” Military News, May 19, 2020, https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/05/19/women-nearly-30-

more-likely-leave-military-men-new-report-finds.html.
44 

2. Organizational Culture

Women have experienced the reported othering, which often limits their access to

training opportunities and mentorship. Women are also often denied bids to desirable fire

stations because men prefer not to have a woman at their station. This practice should be

examined and neutralized as it perpetuates inequities. Emphasis must be placed on enforcing

anti-harassment and discrimination policies.

3. Family Planning

The American and Canadian fire services have a substantive lack of maternity and

childcare benefits. This has been a major deterrent for young women entering the industry, and

much potential talent is lost because of having to choose work over family.108 Maternity and

postpartum policies must be updated to accommodate the physical recovery of the mother,

breastfeeding, and pumping, and allow for adequate bonding with the newborn. The fire

services lag the corporate world and the military in this regard.

4. Dependent Care

Some sort of alternative/emergency childcare must be developed for mandated

overtime/holdovers, or an exemption plan for single parents should be introduced. This policy

could be gender neutral. Having overnight duty inhibits the use of most pay-by-the-hour

babysitters. Family care issues are a leading cause of women departing the fire service

prematurely.109 Firefighter mothers often do not have the benefit of a stay-at-home partner as

the primary caregiver of their dependent children.

5. Deployments

Firefighters deploy out of town for campaign wildfires, special operations like urban

search-and-rescue missions and other task forces. Proper planning to ensure they have separate

sleeping accommodations and access to facilities such as private toilets and separate changing

108 Sinden et al., “A Qualitative Study on the Experiences of Female Firefighters.” 

109 Sara A. Jahnke et al., “Maternal and Child Health among Female Firefighters in the U.S.,” 

Maternal and Child Health Journal 22, no. 6 (June 2018): 922–31, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-018-

2468-3. 
45 

areas can improve conditions for deployed women. These concerns are frequently overlooked

by planners. Pre-planning for deployment logisticsshould include reasonable accommodations

for women.

6. Sexual Assault 

This issue remains the greatest disgrace in the industry. Both in Canada and in the

United States, a multitude of cases have cited sexual harassment, abuse, assault, and rape.110

These lead to headline reports that discredit an organization’s reputation and deter applicants,

who cannot be assured a safe and secure workplace. Complaints of sexual assault should be

properly investigated, their legitimacy determined, and perpetrators properly punished. The

culture of fear that prevents many women from reporting these events leads to women making

sudden and unexplained departures from their careers, sometimes by resigning, sometimes by

suicide.111 If one issue could be emphasized to encourage recruitment and retention of women,

the proper handling of sexual assault allegations would be paramount. Women should know

they can enter a male-dominated industry and be treated with equal regard, and know they are

safe from physical harm. It is a reasonable expectation and a good place for fire service leaders

to start.

D. SUMMARY

The fire service boasts proudly of its 200 years of progress as an institution. However,

resistance to change is a hallmark of firefighter culture. As discussed in this chapter, the North

American fire services—both Canadian and American—have intrinsic issues hampering their

growth and development, particularly in retaining the talent of women firefighters. As

technology and culture is changing exponentially around the fire service, it must choose to

adapt or perish. The ethnic and racial makeup of both countries’ populations have changed

dramatically in recent decades, and so will the candidate pool of public safety agencies. A 

growth mentality and intentionally inclusive hiring practices are necessary and overdue, both

for women and others who have traditionally been relegated as outsiders by the institution. 

110 Daflos, “It’s Not Acceptable”; Willing, On the Line. 

111 Los Angeles County Civil Grand Jury, Grand Jury Final Report. 
46

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47 

V. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR AN

INCLUSIVE WORKFORCE

The U.S. fire service is unique in the world. As a public service, first responders 

have become embedded in the American psyche as heroes and defenders of the nation. Yet

women have long been denied access to this privileged identity. This thesis explored the 

history of fire institutions’ homogenous social identity across two centuries, and the

gradual introduction of women into that closed environment. The last 50 years have seen

significant changes in presumed gender roles in other heavy industries, the military, and

law enforcement. The fire service trails those fields in female hiring due to several relevant

factors that consistently amplify the gap. Despite immutable foundational factors, such as

the innate physical rigors of firefighting, the fact remains that some women are physically 

capable and psychologically fit for duty, and they want to work. The fire service was

founded on courage, honor, and community service, and these characteristics are not 

exclusive to men. Indeed, there is plenty of work to go around. 

A. RECOMMENDATIONS

Change begins with intention. With a broadened understanding of public 

expectation, fire service history, and organizational needs, creative and beneficial solutions 

have a place to develop and flourish. The following recommendations bridge the gap

between the U.S. fire service’s past and its promising future in retaining talented women

in the rank and file.

1. Establish Baseline Data and Definitions

Problem-solving first begins with identifying the issue. As research and data

gathering on women in fire are sparse, no accurate data exist to analyze the current number 

of female firefighters, company officers, chief officers, or executive chief officers. The

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and Women in the Fire Service, or I-Women, state on
48 

their websites that census materials are inaccurate and have not been obtained.112 The BLS

collates data from the public and private sector and does not distinguish between wildland

and municipalities while I-Women uses data from 2008. Unlike the military, which tracks 

national data, communication silos from multiple agencies create haphazard statistics and

outdated information. A full census-tracking mechanism would require surveying women’s 

pay status (e.g., volunteer, combination, or career departments), rank, years of service, and

specialties. Ideally, data collectors could create a portal for tracking the hiring of new

female personnel, as well as retirements and departures from service. If these mechanisms

were in place, the Department of Homeland Security might have a better sense of the 

demographics and state of the union in relationship to its first responders. 

2. Develop a New National Report Card

It is time to update the fire service–based national survey to identify numbers of 

female personnel as well as the issues they are facing. National attention to the hazing, 

harassment, and sexual assaults will draw necessary focus from lawmakers and politicians.

Dysfunctional organizational behaviors must be identified and corrected to create a 

psychologically safe workplace. Moreover, having a clearer picture of the many successes

and leadership roles women have attained will serve to better inform public opinion. Much

of what goes on in the U.S. fire service is a mystery to average citizens. They are exposed 

to sensationalized entertainment media and negative headlines in news reports, so a factual

counterbalance of positive accomplishments and leadership may help to normalize the role

and presence of women in the firehouse. Gathering accurate and updated data is an

important first step. The next step is to consider the holistic view of a firefighter’s need to

survive and thrive. 

3. Provide a Way Forward with Mentorship and Guidance

In this research, several major themes emerged that contribute to successful

retention of women firefighters. Researchers have repeatedly pointed to mentors and

112 Women in Fire, “FAQs”; Bureau of Labor Statistics, Women in the Labor Force, Report 1040

(Washington, DC: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2013), https://www.bls.gov/cps/wlf-databook-2012.pdf. 
49 

champions as key career influences. In a profession where 96 percent of the workforce is

male, women need to look to their senior male firefighters and officers for support. In their

book, Johnson and Smith illustrate the crucial role that mentorship plays in professional 

women’s careers:

Organizations that retain and promote top talent—both female and male—

are more likely to thrive. But the mentoring landscape is unequal. Evidence

consistently shows that women face more barriers in securing mentorships 

than men, and when they do find a mentor, they may reap a narrower range 

of both career and psychological benefits. When a man mentors a woman, 

they explain, the relationship is often complicated by conventional gender

roles and at times hostile external perceptions. Traditional notions of 

mentoring are often modeled on male-to-male relationships—the sort that

begin on the golf course, involve a nearly exclusive focus on career

achievement, and include more than a few slaps on the back over drinks 

after work. But women often report a desire for mentoring that integrates

career and interpersonal needs. Women want a mentor who not only “gets” 

this, but truly honors it. Men need to fully appreciate just how crucial their

support of promising junior women can be in helping them to persist,

promote, and thrive in their vocations and organizations.113

Men and women in positions of authority and leadership need to actively participate

in modeling behavior and investing in their new talent. As with the hero’s journey, when

young warriors emerge from the underworld, the mentor must be there to affirm their new

identity and move them forward with grounding and focus. In a profession where asking 

for help is seen as a sign of weakness, a mentor must be proactive in providing resources

and guidance. The master–apprentice relationship is at the core of the fraternal model, and

women should not be excluded from it.

4. Support Female Leadership

Harvard University’s Women in Public Policy Program published a study 

indicating women are more trusted in leadership roles when organizations are in times of 

crisis. As highlighted by the study, 

Relational skills include the ability to anticipate and manage other people’s 

emotions through modulating the situation, attentional focus, messaging, 

113 W. Brad Johnson and David Smith, Athena Rising: How and Why Men Should Mentor Women

(Brookline, MA: Bibliomotion, 2016).
50

and emotion response. Women are, on average, more likely to adopt a

relational approach to leadership than men are. Because women are more

likely to exhibit high levels of relational behavior, and because

organizations increasingly require relational behaviors for successful

leadership, women may be preferred for filling leadership roles in modern

organizations, a phenomenon that researchers call the “female leadership

advantage.”114

This research raises the question of whether women’s tendencies toward empathetic

communication and networking are more valued at the chief officer ranks. Worthy of

discussion is how the gender playing field becomes neutralized when a woman steps out

of the firehouse culture and out of operations. Results may indicate that opportunities for

women’s achievement at the executive level are greater than they are at the lower ranks.

Characteristics known as “soft skills” in the corporate world provide advantages in dealing

with politicians, citizen groups, and other department heads. Women in executive fire

leadership likely experience a similar level of success.

If the “female leadership advantage” notion is valid, departments may consider the

value of elevating women into their leadership ranks, but not too quickly. Time in grade is

heavily emphasized in the fire service, as experience and seniority define firefighters’ 

reputation and credibility. These are often measured by how many fires they have fought

and at which stations they have served. A traditional career layout might be the 10–10-10

model—10 years as a firefighter, 10 years as an engineer/operator, and 10 as a captain.

This trajectory does not include executive leadership opportunities, so anyone advancing

more quickly may draw scrutiny. In his book Outliers: Stories of Success, author Malcolm

Gladwell popularized the notion of “10,000 hours” of experience to develop mastery over

a task, and about half that to achieve competency.115 Though this social theory has been

disputed, it lends itself as a framework in the fire service. With people being hired much

later in life, and retirement eligibility in many agencies falling around the age of 50,

accelerating one’s leadership path may be the new normal. Maybe, in the modern climate

114 Corinne Post, Ioana M. Latu, and Liuba Y. Belkin, “A Female Leadership Trust Advantage in

Times of Crisis: Under What Conditions?,” Psychology of Women Quarterly 43, no. 2 (June 2019): 215–

31, https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684319828292.

115 Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success (New York: Little, Brown and Company,

2008).
51 

of redefining work–life balance and the “great resignation,” the 30-year fire career is a 

thing of the past.

5. Address Mental Health and Wellness

Firefighters witness and endure things that most people will not. In a study on urban 

firefighters in Canada and the United States published in the Journal of Occupational 

Health Psychology, researchers found that approximately 20 percent of firefighters and

paramedics reach threshold criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during their

career, compared to a 6.8 percent lifetime risk for the general population.116 The

connection between PTSD and traumatizing rescue work is clear. Moreover, women are

potentially at higher risk of injury due to the dynamics of social othering and a lack of 

cohesive support. Despite the relative prestige of the profession, as highlighted in media

and popular culture, disconnection and discontent can begin in the onboarding process,

academy, and probation. Long-term exposures to tragedy are pervasive factors in the 

deterioration of the firefighter’s mental and physical well-being. As a major issue in the 

industry, behavioral health and wellness is gender neutral, and the intrinsic stressors of the 

work, as well as combined sleep deprivation, strained co-habitation, and exposure to toxins 

and carcinogens, create a steep grade for all firefighters.117 Women, as sisters in the

brotherhood, have notably less support, acknowledgement, and means to reach out.118

Many learned from the very beginning of their careers that such behavior is a sign of 

weakness.119 Thus, the very culture that drew many women to the profession, to be part of 

an extended family, has subsequently excluded them.120

116 Wayne Corneil et al., “Exposure to Traumatic Incidents and Prevalence of Posttraumatic Stress

Symptomatology in Urban Firefighters in Two Countries,” Journal of Occupational Health Psychology 4,

no. 2 (1999): 131–41, https://doi.org/10.1037/1076-8998.4.2.131.

117 Susan Edelman, “Seventy Percent of the FDNY’s Females Are Retiring on Disability,” New York

Post, February 22, 2015, https://nypost.com/2015/02/22/seventy-percent-of-fdnys-females-are-retiring-ondisability/.

118 Gouliquer, Poulin, and McWilliams, “Othering of Full-Time and Volunteer Women Firefighters.” 

119 Smith, “L.A. Has Hired More Female Firefighters.” 

120 Chetkovich, Real Heat. 
52 

Firefighters like other first responders are at increased risk for substance abuse and

suicide. Indeed, the fire service suffers catastrophic numbers of suicides, even higher than

line-of-duty deaths, annually.121 Also, the divorce rate for firefighters is upwards of 70 

percent.122 Furthermore, the likelihood of contracting cancer is three times as high as for

other professions, and firefighters have significantly reduced lifespans.123 The Federal

Emergency Management Agency identified alarming finding significant to women

firefighters in a 2019 study: 

There are a number of risk factors that contribute to mental health problems and

suicide, and some risk factors are more salient for women, including job-related

isolation, job demands, stressful work environments, and work–home imbalance.

Most of the listed risk factors can be attributed to three domains: personal, 

occupational, and cultural. Personal factors include the increased prevalence of

depression and anxiety, particularly for women; a higher divorce rate for women

firefighters; stigma surrounding mental illness; and barriers to seeking help.124 

6. Shift Focus to Retention

Recruitment has long been focused on seeking out and finding the best candidate. 

While that is still fundamentally necessary, outreach is not enough. Leaders need to realize

they have a responsibility to attract quality candidates to their agency. Improved 

recruitment and retention can be achieved through building the agency’s reputation, 

creating a solid public image, and developing supportive policies. The finest advertisement

for a place of employment is abundant happy employees—they take care of themselves,

their coworkers, and the customer, and they recruit for the business. The fire service would 

do well to lean on the best practices of many successful businesses and prioritize

121 Rita F. Fahy and Jay T. Petrillo, Firefighter Fatalities in the U.S. in 2020 (Quincy, MA: National

Fire Protection Association, 2021), https://www.nfpa.org//-/media/Files/News-and-Research/Fire-statisticsand-reports/Emergency-responders/osFFF.pdf.

122 U.S. Fire Administration, Emerging Health and Safety Issues. 

123 University of Arizona Cancer Center, “Researchers Studying Stress.” 

124 Federal Emergency Management Agency, Emerging Health and Safety Issues among Women in

the Fire Service (Washington, DC: Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2019), 30, https://www.usfa.

fema.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/emerging_health_safety_issues_women_fire_service.pdf. 
53 

psychologically safe and productive work. Apart from focusing on recruitment, it should 

focus on taking care of the women it already has—and acknowledge and support them. 

B. FINAL WORDS

Women bring so much to the fire service as an industry. However, as one of the 

most gender-imbalanced workforces in modern history, the fire service continues to feel

the public push toward improved integration. If leadership’s intent is to create an inclusive 

workplace, the steps toward the goal must be clearly stated, understood by the entire group, 

initiated, and reassessed. It is up to the leaders and policymakers to change the current

environment and pave the way for future success.
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APPENDIX. THE ECOLOGICAL MODEL OF HUMAN

DEVELOPMENT

The ecological model of human development is a customized holistic model for

considering the priorities and needs of a woman to thrive in the fire service. This

customized design serves as an analytical framework to examine the knowledge,

motivation, and organizational influences associated with women pursuing and persisting

as paid career firefighters.125 Urie Bronfenbrenner contends that “human beings create the

environments in which they live and that these, in turn, help shape their development.”126

This framework provides a solid evaluation platform to analyze factors and traits inherent

to the people performing those roles. The ecology model allows for compartmentalization

of the challenges of the work–home life balance and helps to explain the concentric circles

of a firefighter’s roles (see Figure 6).

125 Carlos Rey and Miquel Bastons, “Three Dimensions of Purpose: Knowledge, Motivation, and

Action,” in Purpose-Driven Organizations: Management Ideas for a Better World, ed. Carlos Rey, Miquel

Bastons, and Phil Sotok (Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, 2019), 29–41, https://doi.

org/10.1007/978-3-030-17674-7_3.

126 Urie Bronfenbrenner, The Ecology of Human Development: Experiments by Nature and Design

(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1979).
56 

Figure 5. Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model, Adapted for the Fire

Service.127

Three circles of influence are embedded into a dimensional lifespan, represented

by the chronosystem. This diagram provides a visual map of the components of a woman’s 

life as she moves through the course of a career journey from entry to departure. The

ecological model guides the interpretations in the review of existing literature, as well as

the decisions about how to move the history, data points, and behavioral trends gathered

from case studies into a useful structure. The interpretations carry through the 

chronological lifespan. This adaptation of the ecological model for the fire service is

helpful in considering firefighter retention and career longevity. It divides the work–life

balance, highlighting the individual’s personal and professional factors and the way

experiences can be shaped and directed. Dissecting a person’s life features can help detect

the presence of obstacles or the existence of deficits. 

127 Adapted from Bronfenbrenner, The Ecology of Human Development. 
57 

A. THE MICROSYSTEM

The inner circle represents one’s private life and personal influences in the 

microsystem. This component at the core of a person’s existence mirrors Maslow’s 

pyramid, involving personal roles, activities, and relationships. In the home, this section is

where family, marriage, and friendships reside. In the workplace, this would resemble the 

fire station or administrative office colleagues. Identified here is the presence of allies,

mentors, supportive subordinates, and work norms. When a woman is surrounded by 

support and encouragement from her most intimate relationships, she has a fundamental 

advantage in maintaining a successful career path. Many women firefighters anecdotally

report that their romantic partners or spouses do not approve of their work and are

threatened by the time away from home or the close friendships developed there. The need

to defend professional choices to friends and family is daunting, especially when the job’s 

duties intrude on the outside life. Firefighters miss family holidays, kids’ birthdays, 

weddings, and funerals. These missed connections can greatly affect the woman and her 

extended network. The burdens of baby-nursing and childrearing also place heavy

responsibilities on the spouse at home. Women, perhaps even more so than men, require 

an exceptionally strong support network in their home life. The organization has the ability

to reach out and affect these issues through policies and practices that affect 

Professionally, developing trusted colleagues and coworkers can in many ways

define long-term success. Because women are likely to be excluded from social outings 

and gatherings for the reasons mentioned in the previous paragraph, conscientious leaders

need someone to turn to for support and camaraderie. Leaders in the fire service should be 

particularly aware of the many ways gender defines social activities and make efforts to

ensure women are not consistently excluded from these team-building opportunities. 

Sports teams, firefighter Olympics, union events, and conferences should acknowledge the

opportunity to include women, as department-endorsed off-duty activities are communitybuilding opportunities. Years of separate-but-equal behaviors lead to social isolation and

out-grouping. 
58 

B. THE MESOSYSTEM

The next segment represents external components like support groups, mentors, and

professional affiliations in the mesosystem. The middle ring of the circle, the mesosystem, 

identifies an important aspect in the work–life balance, as the issues are almost mirrorimages. In both the personal and professional life, successful women depend on webs of 

support. At home, that might be extended family, neighbors in the community, or church. 

Mothers might have parent groups or play groups. On the professional side, this may be

women’s groups, teams, or affiliations with outside fire agencies. Women do not need to

be in exclusively female support networks to find comradery, training, and direction. Of

the many invisible landmines in the culture of the fire service, it is important to have a 

safety network to lean on with delicate questions, ethical dilemmas, or ideas for successful

adaptation. Mentors and champions, both at home and at work, are invaluable in the career

of the firefighter. In a profession with so few female leaders to set formal and informal

examples, a woman must often identify a trusted senior man to help steer course.

Mentorship influences mental health and wellness, career development, succession

planning, and performance in the field. Mentors have been identified as the lifeline in the 

chain of survival for the female firefighter. Close consideration of the conditions of the 

individual’s mesosystem may reveal the deficits in her career path, and shepherding her

toward the group or senior member for guidance is often an easy fix to a complex problem. 

C. THE EXOSYSTEM

The exosystem or outer ring represents the larger dynamics, things that are likely

out of an individual’s circle of influence but have a strong impact on one’s livelihood. The

chronosystem provides the three-dimensional visual representation of the career lifespan

from entry into the career through retirement. These dimensions are useful to illuminate a 

multi-factorial approach to successfully retaining female firefighters. As discussed in early

chapters, the four quadrants that create impediments to success involve physicality, social

dynamics, parental leave, and promotional obstacles. The organizational level of influence

dwells in the exosystem. The firefighter has little influence over the elements in the outer 

ring but may be profoundly influenced by them. Leaders have a capacity to effect rules,
59

both proactively and retroactively, by creating operating procedures or enforcing

consequences for actions. The exosystem is an excellent starting point when a decision

maker wants to determine how the action might contribute to the success, or added stress,

of the end user, in this case, the woman firefighter.
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