I think women in the fire service is great there just as capable of doing too job as men are.If they want to do the job let them they know the risks as well is anyone else does and i love seeing them do the job as well.So as fare as i am concerned i think its great the females want to be f/f and medics.We have several on our department and there tread as one of the guys with the same respect.
The only "smart" way I know to do overhaul, throw a ladder, vent a roof, advance a charged line, etc, is to let someone else do it for me, thus saving me from working harder. Either you can and do the job, or you're spending most of your time looking for others to do it for you.
The "wrong" reasons are joining the fire department so you can say "I'm a firefighter", to impress the opposite sex, so on instead of doing so to serve your fellow man. As a rule these type people aren't "capable firefighters" as when the feces hits the air distributing device they are usually the ones who find something else to do and typically can't be counted on.
I've seem more than once where female fighters worked harder to learn the proper way do do a skill because with the typical strength limitations they had to rely more on proper technique whereas their male counterparts could cut corners and use brute strength. I have also seen where women worked harder because of the traditional view that "this is a man's game" and felt they had to work that much harder to gain acceptance in a male dominated organization.
And don't put words in my mouth concerning intelligence of the sexes. Women and men tend to analyze things from different perspectives. Often the female firefighters would offer a perspective to a topic that hadn't been considered by the primarily male group.
Russ, that's awesome! The guys call me Mama Bear. LOL They come to me for answers, and positivity. My old instructors named me that after noticing that everyone hid under my wing when they started tagging people with questions. I didn't baby them, but more coached 'em while I did my own. It was interesting. I found it easier to maintain a position of respect, when I knew what I was doing (and still do)
Richard, that's the funniest thing I've heard in a long time, and if you don't mind, will be applying that amongst my colleagues. ("Strong like bull- smart like dumptruck"....Priceless). Thanks.
Todd,
Could you give an example of how a woman would do something through "proper technique" that a man would just do through brute strength.
A woman shouldn't have to work "...harder to learn the proper way do do a skill ...", unless they have a learning disability, which is actually more typically a male thing.
I work with a couple of females and, smart as they may be (and I'm not conceding a thing to them, intellectually) they have to physically bust their ass to do the same things I do and we're both doing the same "proper technique."
Seems to me there's a lot of patronization going on in here towards women, crediting them with all kinds of non-physical skills (intelligence, compassion, intuition) that men don't seem to have.
Seems to me there's a lot of patronization going on in here towards women, crediting them with all kinds of non-physical skills (intelligence, compassion, intuition) that men don't seem to have.
Makes me wonder why there are so many alike threads then....one would think doing a little research and using a "search function" to find several threads already addressing such topics, would be intelligent and intuitive concepts.