General Discussion > Women of the Fire Industry
Female Firefighters in the Media
Ryan:
people do nto give a damn who rock sup in the truck did ya read the letter from someone in yesterdays paper they wrote in that they did not care if the firefighters that rocked up were anglo saxon, asian, abboriginal, female or green martian. As long as the job got done.
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Basically no one cares.
Equal Oppurtunity should be just that Im sure if a female could do the job properly she would get in same with asian, abboriginal or martian. Plenty of Anglo Saxon males fail, MFS has a pass rate of about 8%, if ya good enough ya get in.
Blue:
--- Quote from: Hicksflat14 on February 28, 2007, 02:09:33 PM ---It therefore should be asked that as a female firefighter in the MFS Blue, do you support the removal of this program meaning that you and other females would (if you wanted to become a fulltime firefighter) have to fight for a place against the many hundreds of males that apply for what is a physically demanding job and therefore, in most cases, would make it extremely difficult for women to join and entirely possible that none would "make the grade".
--- End quote ---
Very interested in my personal opinions on things aren't you, I should be flattered. Well, the 'equal opportunity people' as you put it are there due to a ground swell of support for equality in our society, and a push for this in government particularly - government, being representative of the people, should be 50/50 gender balanced reflecting our population's statistics, and also involve a reflective percentage of people from other backgrounds, etc. We know this has been difficult to obtain, and the reasons are varied and complex, and sadly a level playing field is not always applied due to personal bias and stereotyping in an application process.
Partly the blame lies with us - it is often a self-imposed glass ceiling, with women believeing they can't do things and generally having less confidence with certain job roles or activities that have been more accepted as masculine endeavours. So not even applying in the first place. The burnt chop syndrome runs riot.
I believe programs such as the one you have brought to our attention are an effort to redress a severe imbalance. I'd say it was based on a directive by government as a whole, and MFS is simply playing its part. The same issues are felt by other specialist employers - look at the airline industry, at a guess I'd say the vast majority of attendants were female, and it has been debated that this is due to height and weight restrictions that simply favour women.
A similar thing could be argued for the MFS - physical capacity is a factor and at the end of the day this may favour males. I would also suggest that the program discussed would still apply the same selection criteria, but perhaps provides extra support in terms of preparation for testing for those minority groups that they would like to see increased in the service. At the end of the day this won't result in a bunch of puny, pudgy or mathematically challenged females and ethnics fighting fires, it simply means that a group of individuals is given a stable platform to work from and hence given the best possible chance of succeeding in an effort to redress the balance.
Hicksflat14:
So the people who dont care who's in the uniform are creating a ground swell want to make things more equal by giving some people more assistance than others? Does that makes sense?
--- Quote ---I would also suggest that the program discussed would still apply the same selection criteria, but perhaps provides extra support in terms of preparation for testing for those minority groups that they would like to see increased in the service.
--- End quote ---
This program involved individuals taking part in physical fitness and being shown firefighting techniques prior to applications being open. Does this not therefore disadvantage the average person (whatever their gender or ethnicity) off the streets whos applying to join whos had no experience in firefighting?
It would be interesting to know if indeed it was the same selection criteria for all.
Blue:
--- Quote from: Hicksflat14 on March 02, 2007, 03:40:13 PM ---This program involved individuals taking part in physical fitness and being shown firefighting techniques prior to applications being open. Does this not therefore disadvantage the average person (whatever their gender or ethnicity) off the streets whos applying to join whos had no experience in firefighting?
--- End quote ---
Just like applying for any position, if you are really intersted you will go the extra yards. You find out about the organisation, find out about the job, the roles you would undertake, etc etc. So if anyone was keen to be in the MFS, they would know every criteria for selection, they would know they need to be fit, and perhaps would try and do some fire training in any way they can, be that CFS, a warden for their workplace - whatever.
So from what you've said it doesn't sound like an overly huge amount of support - as I said before, simply redressing the imbalance.
Pipster:
Does it actually say in the key selection criteria that applicants must have previous fire - fighting experience?
In the quick look I have had, I can't see that as a key selection criteria....although previous experience is helpful, it is not essential.
And as we all know, there are people around who do have previous fire -fighting experience, but who would not be suitable for the position......
Pip
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