News Ten Now, June 17, 2008, Tuesday

News Ten Now

June 17, 2008, Tuesday

News Ten Now

Study shows few women are firefighters

By: Allison Lazarz

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Firefighting is "men's work." At least that's what a study co-authored by Cornell University faculty member Francine Moccio found.

Her research of more than 100 departments in 48 states found that less than four percent of paid firefighters in the nation are women.

"Seventy-five percent of the women surveyed said that they had some type of incident in their fire service department, whether it was harassment or innuendos or experiences of isolation," said Moccio, co-author of the study "A National Report Card on Women in Firefighting."

Leah Stoner isn't a paid firefighter. She volunteers in Cayuga Heights and said she's never had a bad experience with her department.

"Our department is really good about treating men and women equally. It's very friendly, very open, more of a progressive type department I guess you could say," said Stoner.

Moccio said that women in volunteer departments don't always face the harassment and exclusion that her study finds going on in paid departments because there's no money involved.

"There isn't the competition for the wage and competition for the small number of people recruited that get the job, so it becomes more of a contest," said Moccio.

Even though Stoner hasn't had any problems with her department, she said that before she became a firefighter, the idea that it's a male dominated profession did concern her a little bit.

"I was under the impression that it might be more male-centric and hard for a woman to get into and enjoy herself and when I joined here I was completely disproven," said Stoner.

Moccio said many volunteers go on to become paid firefighters, so their experiences with a volunteer department can have a direct effect on their decision to pursue a firefighting career.

Moccio works for Cornell's Institute for Women and Work.

To read more about the study, visit:
http://firechief.com/