I have been doing a lot of soul searching since my return from the iwomen convention that was held in Tucson, AZ less than a month ago. I have been thinking about my career, my journey, from several different angles...from a mother's perspective, from the drive of being a professional firefighter, from being a caregiver, a wife, a woman....and it just does not mesh. It does not flow. I was thinking about the dichotomy of this on my run this morning. What do I have to offer in this career, this profession, to others who want what I have? What lessons have I learned that will help other firefighters in their careers? I think the answer is in truly understanding the concept of diversity in our stations....
The fire department represents the face of the community. Contrary to the posters that the media portrays of beautifully sculpted, predominantly white "20-something" males, the fire service represents all races, creeds, colors, genders and body habitus. Granted, we are generally physically fit because our job demands it...but we cannot all achieve the look that the television show Chicago Fire represents. As a matter of fact, that is creating a stereotype that in essence cripples the encouragement of diversity because we cannot realistically achieve that Hollywood persona. What are we doing? How do we collectively promote diversity and encourage recruitment and retention when we are misrepresenting ourselves? There has to be a tipping point.
I am guilty of this as well. When I started in the fire service, my entire focus was to become "one of the guys" to be completely accepted because I was good at my job...not because I was the "tall, blonde chick" with an "attitude". Women in this profession have to be careful. We have to gauge what we say and balance what we do. We do the same job, have the same training, work just as hard...but we are the minority. It is a fact. So, instead of bonding together and working harder to recruit more women into the workforce of perceivably the best job in the world, we chose to separate ourselves from other women and blend into "status quo", laughing at station humor and allowing behavior that would never be accepted in our own kitchens at home. I did it... Many of my friends accepted it... So again...what are we doing?
The fire service of the 21st Century is changing. It is changing because of retirement, it is changing due to the younger generation workforce and it is changing because it needs to change. The tradition of excellence needs to stay the same...being brave and being as safe as possible (risk a lot to save a lot) must remain, but the inclusive mentality of a boy's club has to change because the fire service has outgrown it....and it is up to all of us to ensure that this happens.
This is where I was personally having trouble, because I truly had to do a personal inventory of myself especially my attitude and my responsibility as a fire chief and a woman. The responsibility comes not only toward my personnel and the community that I serve but to my daughter and her future daughter's daughter from this day forward. We have a responsibility to set the bar high and understand that diversity is more than just a quota; it is the fundamental understanding of what the fire service represents...community. Community is not defined as solely perfect "all American white twenty something" males (although they are part of the community)...community is all ages, colors, creeds and genders. It is the binding thread that supports us and gives us common vision and direction. It is what we are hired to support, care for and protect. It only makes sense that we would do that for each other...within our station walls. It is our responsibility to ensure that we fulfill this duty in both our leadership and our behavior regardless of our race, creed or gender.
The future starts today.