What is the biggest challenge today for a female First Responder in a male-dominated environment?

Question

AK Dozanti · Answer

So as the first female to answer this question, what's the biggest challenge for female first responders in a male-dominated environment? I was a deputy sheriff for many years and I think that this is all going to depend on the individual. I was a major tomboy growing up. I grew up out in the middle of nowhere. I was pretty rough around the edges and it didn't take much for me to fit in with the guys. That's not going to be the case for everybody. I also entered into law enforcement doing undercover online investigations at just 19 years old and I learned through that position that I was very valuable to them. Not everybody gets the opportunity to be seen as valuable in their field right away. So the challenges are really going to be different for each individual. Law enforcement, we're about 13 percent. Fire service, I think it's about 11 percent and EMS it's about 30 percent. I honestly think a lot of the challenges are going to be pretty similar to the guys. They're just not willing to talk about it. Whatever your insecurities are, knowing who you are as a person, being able to find your place in the field, and being able to manage the stressors of the job. The only other major difference for female law enforcement was the uniform and being able to find a safe place to go to the bathroom on patrol.

Dave Robertson · Answer

There are actually two big challenges I believe for the female first responder in this male dominated environment in the fire service. The first one being finding their voice. That's not their fault. It seems like a lot of times when a woman in the fire service tries to raise her voice and says this has gone wrong or some undue obstacles have been put in front of me, that male dominated environment will push back and consequently some women have gone quiet. I don't blame them. So it's very hard for me to kind of say just find your voice. I don't quite know what the solution is with that but I do think it's a huge challenge is finding your voice. The second biggest challenge is that male dominated environment in itself. You know we are still in North America especially 84% white males in the fire service. The challenge today is that that is the world that a woman has to navigate in. It's an unfair playing field and it's very much tilted towards men, definitely white men. So those would be the two big challenges. Finding your voice and actually working in that male dominated environment.

Donald Soranno · Answer

This is a great question. What is the biggest challenge today for female first responders in a male-dominated environment? And I got to say that the question answers that question. The biggest challenge is that it is a male-dominated environment. And I'm going to speak to it in the law enforcement arena. You know, vast majority agencies you go to, it's 90% male. And I think for a female to get into law enforcement, one, I think it's great. I think we need more females getting involved with law enforcement. But I think it's going to be an uphill climb for some because it is, you're always unfortunately going to be second-guessed. Are you strong enough to do the position? Do you have the mental will? Do you have the fortitude? You know, some horrible stereotypes are, oh, women are too emotional. I mean, that's just BS. I think that's, you know, we actually need some more of that emotions in law enforcement. And I think they'll actually break down that stigma of law enforcement being big, strong men. And that's only people that can do it. You know, I think it's great that women are getting involved more. And actually, a good friend of mine, she's been in the corporate world and she's in her mid to late 30s. And she's in her fifth week of the police academy. And I'm like, this is awesome. But I did talk with her that, you know, you're going to have people looking at you, you know, are you good enough to do this job as a woman? And unfortunately, that's just a horrible stereotype. And I think that it's going to take time to get more women in leadership roles that are going to be able to break down that barrier, get more women into law enforcement, and show they can do the job just as good and sometimes even better than us. So I look forward to seeing more women in law enforcement.

Dena Ali · Answer

I don't know if I can answer this in 90 seconds. The biggest challenge is being yourself and owning who you are and having the courage to show up as you are, while also being in this career where you're constantly learning and improving yourself and knowing that nobody's perfect. We can always do better. I know the first five years of my career, I tried so hard to fit in and be one of the guys and I didn't realize I was eroding who I truly was. But I also now have learned just how important it is to be yourself, not to fit in, but to actually belong. However, the big challenge is how do you belong, bring your true authentic self to work, but also continue to learn and continue to be better every day. So that to me is definitely the biggest challenge is recognizing the importance of belonging and not focusing so hard on just fitting in.

Bridget Truxillo, JD, RYT-200 · Answer

What is the biggest challenge today for a female first responder in a male dominated environment? First I want to say I don't think it's a today issue. I think it is, has always been an issue. I can't imagine the ladies who came into law enforcement in the 70s or 80s or whenever, way back before. I think that women compromise about 13% of law enforcement. I'm not sure of the numbers of firefighters or I know dispatch is much higher. I'm not sure about EMT. The issue is that you're different. You're always going to be different. You're always going to stand out and everything you do, therefore, is highlighted. Every mistake you make is bigger. Unfortunately, everything that you do right is not highlighted as quickly as the mistakes. I think the biggest challenge is how to accept that. How to live a life as a first responder while still knowing that basically you live a life under a microscope. Especially for law enforcement because you're already under a microscope. Everybody's ready to record everything you do and post it and somehow trash you. People always talk about the negative. They hardly ever talk about the positive. That's also the same within your own department. I think the biggest issue is that you always be different, but how do you work through that? You work through that because you can still do great things and don't let it be something that harms you.

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"What is the biggest challenge today for a female First Responder in a male-dominated environment?"