Global Issues
US: Women Fight More Than Fire in the FDNY
Leaning back in a squeaking plastic chair, one leg crossed over the other, the lieutenant is at once relaxed and commanding. She smiles often, absent- mindedly running her hands through short brown hair before speaking. Her words are thoughtful, her manner candid.
When Lt. Michele Fizsimmons speaks, you listen. A fourth-generation New York City fire fighter - her great-grandfather, Charles Roth, was one of the fire fighters who fought the legendary Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911 - Fitzsimmons grew up in a household where fire fighting was not an occupation, but a way of life.
Today, the FDNY may not be the brotherhood it once was, but it is by no means a gender-neutral organisation. Unlike other fire departments across the country, where women can comprise fifteen percent or more of the career fire service, the FDNY’s 33 women constitute 0.0028 percent of the total force.
In 1982, when Fitzsimmons was 13, she watched a news segment about Brenda Berkman, a woman who brought a landmark class-action sex discrimination suit against New York City and the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) on behalf of all women interested in becoming fire fighters.
After watching the news story, she mentioned to her grandfather - a FDNY fire fighter and future battalion chief - that she would like to join the FDNY one day.
'Women can’t be fire fighters,' he told her.
Nineteen years later, in 2001, Fitzsimmons became the 33rd female fire fighter ever to be hired in New York City - one of only seven hired since the 1982 lawsuit. In February of 2007, she was promoted to lieutenant. Today, she is one of only six female officers in the entire FDNY, which numbers over 11,500.
Fitzsimmons’ grandfather attended her fire service graduation ceremony, and watched her slide down buildings, pull heavy hose lines, and climb ladders alongside the male graduates in her class.
At the ceremony, the Fire Commissioner congratulated him on Fitzsimmons’ achievements. One of her instructors told him that he would rather work with her than many of her fellow graduates. 'I guess it’s not just the brotherhood anymore,' he said to his granddaughter, proudly. One month after she completed her probationary period, he passed away.
The most serious barrier to the integration of women into the department is not institutional, but psychological. Mary Hauprich, a trustee and board member of the International Association of Women in Fire and Emergency Services (iWomen), told IPS that the legacy of fire fighting as a male occupation is the biggest obstacle to gender integration.
'The fire service tradition has been the last bastion of male supremacy,' she said. 'It’s a traditional boys-club mindset: ‘I’ll rush up the ladder and save you, a woman can’t do that’.'
The conventional understanding of fire fighting as an exclusively male domain has contributed to discrimination against women for decades. Although Fitzsimmons claims that the atmosphere has improved during her time in the service, many women continue to tell horror stories of discrimination, from having oxygen surreptitiously depleted from their tanks to pornography in firehouses and sexual harassment.
Part of the problem, Fitzsimmons says, is embedded in the dynamics of the job itself. 'Working at the firehouse is a situation where you’re very tight and very bonded,' she told IPS. 'You’re as close as family, and sometimes the idea of a work environment gets a little blurry because you’re so comfortable with each other and you know each other so well. Sometimes, lines are crossed.'
Growing up in a family of fire fighters prepared her for the station environment, she said.
'The ball-busting going on in a firehouse is not much different than the ball- busting going on in my family,' she explained, a smile illuminating her eyes. 'I had a thick skin already. But I think for some people, it might be a bit of a culture shock.'
But Fitzsimmons is quick to point out that her experience in the FDNY has been positive overall - I’ve gotten a lot of support from the people I’ve worked with,' she said. 'I’ve been very fortunate that I haven’t run into major issues.'
Both Fitzsimmons and Hauprich agree that the most crucial step in addressing the gender disparity in the fire service is improving outreach to girls and young women. 'Girls just don’t know that women can be fire fighters,' Hauprich told IPS. 'How many girls have women fire fighters come into their school on career day and say ‘hey, you can do this’?'
Promoting awareness of women in the profession prompted Fitzsimmons, along with FDNY’s Lt. Anna Schermerhorn-Collins, to found Phoenix Firecamp, a week-long summer camp aimed at introducing teenage girls to the fire service. At the Fire Department Training Academy in Utica, girls between the ages of 14 and 19 learn through hands-on training and classroom instruction.
Phoenix is 'a great opportunity to expose girls to the fire service, and to show girls what the possibilities are,' said Fitzsimmons. Even if the girls decide not to pursue a career in the fire service, she said, they learn that 'they can do more than what they expect of themselves. If they go out there and strive for something, they can do it.'
Hauprich explained that working in the fire service is a career unlike any other. 'It’s not easy,' she said, 'but it’s not easy for men either. It’s hard, good, honest work.' Women interested in the service should know that 'they’re going to be tested mentally and physically and will see some things they probably will wish they hadn’t seen. But they’re also going to experience the phenomenal feeling of helping someone, or an entire community, when they need it most'.
Fitzsimmons agreed that a career in fire fighting is a uniquely beneficial experience. Leaning back in the chair, she was characteristically straightforward with her words.
'Why be a fire fighter? I wouldn’t want to do anything else. It’s the best job in the world,' she said, smiling. Five minutes later, an alarm bell sounded, and she climbed onto a shining red fire truck and sped off, sirens wailing.
© Inter Press Service (2010) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service