Blog note: This article refers to a Santa Clara County grand jury report
Women
trying to become firefighters in cities throughout Santa Clara County face gender
bias, a hostile work environment, a conscious lack of recruitment and other
major obstacles, according to a newly released grand jury report.
The
report on the lack of women firefighters in Santa Clara County offers
recommendations for how the male-dominated firefighting profession can take
steps to better reflect the county’s demographics by hiring more women.
Issued by the Santa Clara County Civil
Grand Jury Dec. 17, the report surveyed nearly 1,500 firefighters across four
departments and 96 fire stations in the county. It found that only 4% of
firefighters were women — far below the 17% target recommended by Women in
Fire, an advocacy group.
The
San Jose Fire Department, the largest in the region with 665 firefighters, has
the lowest percentage of female firefighters — just 16, or 2%.
Of
the 95 firefighters in Palo Alto, five are women or approximately 5%. Mountain
View has seven women among its 70 firefighters, about 10% of its force, and the
Santa Clara County Fire Department has 16 women among 235 firefighters or 7%.
The
civil grand jury found it was more difficult for women to be recruited for
firefighting jobs because of “insufficient female recruitment, gender bias and
lack of inclusivity” among departments.
The
report saw a recruitment system that favored men over women, a hostile work
environment for women, a lack of women-specific equipment and complaints from
female firefighters about harassment from male firefighters.
“The
current procedures for recruiting and hiring female firefighters in the Santa
Clara County region have resulted in maintaining a male-dominated fire service
that does not reflect the face of the community it serves,” read the report.
“For
the SCC fire departments to have more female firefighters in the workforce,
they must hire more women,” it continued. “This will require a concentrated and
continuous effort. Female firefighters should expect appropriate behavior from
all colleagues, separate living accommodations for privacy, formal mentoring,
opportunity for promotion and properly-fitting work gear.”
According
to a survey conducted by the National Report Card on Women in Firefighting,
only 35.6% of women said their department recruits and hires women above its
general recruiting efforts. When asked the same question, 65.9% of men
firefighters said their department went above its recruiting efforts for women.
In
addition, leadership positions are almost exclusively male. Female firefighters
were approximately 15 times more likely to be verbally harassed, 60 times more
likely to report sexual advancements against them at work, 23 times more likely
to be exposed to pornography at work and 13 times more likely to be hazed
compared to their male counterparts.
Departments
also lacked separate changing and living facilities for women, the survey
found.
Not wanted
The
grand jury report cited four specific instances of female firefighters being
harassed in the county. In one instance, a female firefighter could not get
transferred to a fire station because that station allegedly “did not want
women working there.”
Another
firefighter dealt with inappropriate teasing and a third said she heard
complaints from the wives of male firefighters about their husbands working
closely with women. A fourth firefighter said she didn’t feel supported at the
male-dominated firefighters union meeting.
“How
do you change that frat house culture? That’s what we’re wrestling with,” read
a statement from Curt Varone, a retired deputy fire chief who served 29 years
in the Providence Fire Department in Rhode Island. The county used a quote from
him in its report. “Hearts and minds have not changed on this issue and that’s
the only way we’re going to see progress.”
The
report suggested fire departments implement a recruitment process specifically
for women firefighters, ensure a non-gender biased hiring process, better
living and working conditions for women and more mentoring resources for
prospective women applicants and issued six recommendations for implementing
such policies.
‘Good old boys’ club’
Matt
Tuttle, president of San Jose Fire Fighters Local 230, said he believes there
could be better recruitment with more funding.
“For
years the fire service has had to combat the ‘frat’ stigma and even a stigma of
the fire department being a ‘good old boys’ club,'” Tuttle said. “I believe a
lot of that stigma comes from members of the fire department being legacies,
for example, sons and daughters of firefighters continuing a family ‘tradition’
of working in the fire service.”
Tuttle
said he’s seen a reduction of firefighter applications due to tighter budgets
and losing out to other high-paying jobs in the region, such as tech jobs.
Part
of San Jose’s efforts to increase women numbers at SJFD includes its SJFD
Women’s Boot Camp, which held its second event in March. The boot camp,
facilitated by some of the department’s women firefighters, gives participants
the opportunity to go through a day in the life of an actual firefighter —
everything from grueling physical workouts with the department’s equipment to
first aid demonstrations and workshops with women firefighters.
Although
the department said it was too soon to review and implement the recommendations
from the grand jury report, it said it is actively trying to ensure SJFD
reflects the demographics of the city.
“The
San Jose Fire Department does enforce a zero-tolerance policy for workplace
discrimination,” said Erica Ray, the department’s spokesperson. “And we did
implement this annual women’s boot camp to give interested candidates the
opportunity to be mentored directly by our female firefighters. It really gives
them the hands-on access to what it’s like to be a firefighter.”
The
civil grand jury is responsible for examining the administration of county
services, hearing resident complaints from county officials and serving as a
financial watchdog for public funds, among other duties. It generally releases
reports on its findings several times a year.
“If
Santa Clara County can cultivate an environment that leads to hiring more women
firefighters, it will find its way to equitable female representation in the
county,” said the report. “More diverse departments in the SCC region would
encourage other Santa Clara County fire departments to change their view, and
the balance of genders may inspire additional counties to do so as well.”
San
Jose Spotlight
Lloyd Alaban
December 29, 2020
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