More Female Firefighters are needed to end the sexist culture in Fire Halls

[RWC130 594]

More Female Firefighters are needed to end the sexist culture

in Fire Halls, Advocates say.

Incident: City of Vancouver FD

British Columbia, Canada

http://bc.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=951616&binId=1.1184694&playlistPageNum=1

[RES24CUE 168]

If it was your house with your family, what would you rather have? A crew of 3 strong men in their 20's and 30's or a crew of 3 120-140 pound women in their 20s and 30s? Our bodies are built for different purposes and the female physique is generally (as there are a few exceptions) not constructed to handle the intense amount of strength required to perform the above-and-beyond arduous firefighing tasks. A lot of hiring tests now have different standars for men and women that acknowledges this disparity. If strengh is a quality that is valued when selecting those who are good candidates for the firefighting profession, why should we lower our standards for equal opportunity I completely disagree with this as it puts the lives of fellow firefighters and the public at risk. I recently took an Advanced FAST class at the Westchester County Fire Training Center and the 12 men in the class were having a tremendous amount of difficulty performing many of the evolutions. I'd like to see a pair of female firefighters try to carry a 180lb (250 in gear) unsonscious male firefighter up a flight of stairs. I don't know about everyone else, but if it's my ass that goes down in a basement job, I hope that crew of BROTHER firefighters will show up to get me out.

[SageVigiles 1,194]

I'd rather have that 120 pound woman than some of the 300+ pound guys I've seen on both career and volunteer departments.

But ideally, I'd rather have anyone that was mentally and physically capable of the job, regardless of whether they were female or not.

More to the point of the article, the idea that a sexist prank should cause us to recruit more females makes no sense. I've seen some females that can bust chops better than anyone and some that take it WAY beyond the scope. Its about having some respect and decency and understanding where the line stands.

[bgore3 8]

Ability to do the job should stand above gender. Different standards for men and women are ridiculous. If you can do it, you can do it. If you can't, you can't.