UCTE represents airport firefighters at several Canadian airports. This two-part series looks at the issues dealt with by two of our female firefighter members as they challenge traditional barriers to women in firefighting services.
“When I started with the volunteer department,” says Alissa Firmston, “I was very welcomed. The fact that I was female never seemed to be an issue at the hall I was at.” But she partially puts this down to having proven her abilities in other emergency services beforehand: “Females do have to work harder to gain the same amount of respect. Males walk into the role and people assume that they’re competent until proven otherwise. Females seem to have to prove it before it’s believed.”
Femininity, masculinity, and solidarity
Progress for women in the workplace and men’s progress are deeply linked. We learn through our union involvement that patriarchy and the toxic side of masculinity not only hurt women. They can also harm and diminish men’s lives. Everyone internalizes sexism, and everyone benefits from challenging and dismantling old gender roles and power structures.
CISM: Caring for one another in the first-responder world
In first-responder fields, Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) is a formal protocol for dealing with traumatic incidents–along the line of psychological first aid, for those who are aware of that term from other workplaces. Alissa Firmston is the lead on her fire hall’s CISM team.
While that may sound a bit like a stereotypical gender role, in fire services it comes with proper training and resources, unlike the informal unpaid caring work that women perform in many workplaces. Firmston doesn’t feel that she was expected to take on this caring role because she is female. Still, she recognizes that it does take a certain temperament to be the person your co-workers can speak to and be vulnerable with. “The mentality in emergency services in general has been coming around. It’s become more accepted to have emotions, talk about mental health issues,” she says. “It’s more acceptable for men to admit that they’re struggling. . .. historically I don’t think men in the fire service felt they could open up to other men, but I think that’s changing.”
Esprit de corps
Beyond critical mental health care, there is a special kind of camaraderie in the emergency services world. Gender barriers exist, but they can be overcome. This says a lot: of Firmston’s four daughters, one of them, Charly, is planning on becoming a firefighter. Based on her experience, Firmston recommends the fire service, largely for the support network. “My fire brothers are my family. I could drop her on any one of our crews or at any fire hall and they would have her back. When it comes down to it, they’re there. I want her to be in that family too.”
Leah Kosolofski
Kosolofski would agree: “My advice to women in the fire service or who may be thinking of getting into the fire service, do it! Some of my best mentors are men in the fire service. It’s not an easy job, but wow is it ever rewarding. You get to help people and be there on their worst day. Don’t ever take that lightly.”
As an example of change that still needs to be made, Kosolofski comments on the National Framework on Cancers linked to Firefighting. One of the things that needs to be done is to fix the patchwork province-by-province lists of presumptive cancers, which means recognizing female cancers that have been left out. A survivor herself (now cancer-free!), Kosolofski is happy to see the new designation of January as Firefighter Cancer Awareness Month.
Solidarity between Women
Both feel a responsibility to help pave the way for other women, but each expresses it differently.
Kosolofski quotes Amelia Earhart: “Some of us have great runways already built for us. If you have one, take off. But if you don’t have one, realize it is your responsibility to grab a shovel and build one for yourself and for those who will follow after you.”
Kosolofski says she would gladly take part in a mentoring program, having had no female mentors when she was learning the ropes. She finds it highly supportive to connect with other female firefighters. Meanwhile, Firmston finds she can turn to her male co-workers for support and doesn’t go out of her way to connect specifically with other female firefighters.
The key is to have options and multiple resources available. It takes both gendered and all-gender solidarity to make the changes that we still need to remove barriers for women in fire services. Whether your closest allies are mainly of your own gender or not, it’s collective strength that counts when push comes to shove, and that necessitates welcoming everyone.