I joined the fire service in 2017 as a part-time firefighter and EMT-Basic. I quickly fell in love with the profession and all that it had to offer and decided to continue my education to become a paramedic. But after a few years in the fire service, I started to become puzzled by the paradox of loving a career where I was able to serve my community while also being stuck in an environment that seemed like it was designed for me to fail.
I’ve written about my experience throughout the probationary period and taking a stand against sexual harassment in the workplace. What I didn’t discuss back then was that behind those articles was a woman who was facing sexual harassment herself. What’s more, when I tried to address my experience with former leaders, I was ignored, and the courage I had built in the months leading up to reporting was destroyed. I decided to let it go but quickly learned that sexual harassment and assault within the fire service extended far beyond my own experience.
After having the opportunity to speak with a handful of women over the last couple years, I was curious about how many others had faced similar harassment. This curiosity, coupled with a drive to make a difference in the fire service, turned into a capstone project at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. I created an anonymous survey titled “Workplace Culture: Standards of Interactions in Public Safety Professions” to evaluate the prevalence of sexual harassment, gender discrimination, and assault in the fire service. The first half of the survey focused on workplace culture and climate; the second half focused on harassment, discrimination and assault. Just over 300 current and former firefighters and/or EMS personnel took the survey.
Key findings: Workplace culture
Here’s what I found, each finding reflecting statistically significant differences between male and female respondents:
- Women were more likely than men to feel anxious about returning to work based on how they were treated by their coworkers;
- Women were more likely to think about resignation during their probationary periods;
- Women were more likely witness comments and behaviors that make them and others uncomfortable.
- Women were less likely to believe their workplaces had a well-known sexual harassment policy;
I wasn’t surprised by these findings, and I think it further shows that women aren’t as welcomed and supported as their male counterparts when beginning their fire service careers. This makes for a difficult probationary period, and the emotional toll can limit the success of the female employee.
Key findings: Harassment, discrimination and assault
The following five yes or no statements specifically targeted harassment, discrimination and assault. Each question was supplemented with an explanation box where participants had the option to elaborate on their experiences.
1.“I feel comfortable reporting incidents of harassment and discrimination to my employer.”
Only 54% of women reported feeling comfortable reporting incidents of harassment and discrimination to their employer compared to 89% of men.
Participant responses:
2. “I have reported sexual harassment or discrimination to my employer in the past.”
46% of women said they have reported sexual harassment to their employers in the past compared to only 17% of their male counterparts.
Participant responses:
3. “If you had to report an incident in the past, do you feel it was handled appropriately?”
Of the 46% of women who responded yes to the previous question, only 20% of them thought their incident was handled appropriately by administration.
Participant responses:
4. “Have you or someone you know ever experienced verbal harassment by a colleague while working a public safety profession?”
83% of all participants had either experienced or witnessed verbal harassment by a colleague while working a public safety profession.
Participant responses:
5. “Have you or someone you know ever been inappropriately touched by a colleague while working a public safety profession?”
55% of female survey participants indicated that they had been assaulted or known someone who was assaulted while working their fire/EMS job.
Participant responses:
Key takeaways
Let’s consider the common threads revealed through this study as well as how we can make headway to change the fire service culture and eliminate such inappropriate actions.
1. Barriers to reporting and length of investigations: Not having an open-door policy and restricting who employees can report to creates an unfair barrier to reporting these incidents. Allowing employees to report incidents to a trusted company officer can help eliminate some of these barriers and encourage future reporting.
Another common concern involved the length of time to investigate a report. As soon as a complaint of harassment, discrimination or assault hits your desk, you should be working to address it. Waiting to investigate the situation could place your employee in an unsafe situation, subjecting them to future sexual harassment or assault.
Not only will recollection of the reported incident be fresher and more accurate by the reporter, the witnesses and the person accused, it also shows your employees that you are taking the report seriously and that it’s one of your top priorities.
2. Lack of confidentiality and fears of retaliation: Participants mentioned that lack of confidentiality created an untrustworthy relationship between the department’s administration and the reporting employee. Breech of confidentiality prevents future (and likely worse) incidents from being reported.
Though illegal, retaliation (or the fear of retaliation) was reported among many individuals. Protecting those who come forward with complaints should be your number one goal. If an employee reports that he/she was retaliated against for reporting something, it is your responsibility to address it.
Keeping investigations confidential and having repercussions if confidentiality is broken or retaliation is experienced protects not only the reporting party from humiliation and retaliation, but also the department from potential legal liability.
3. Lack of accountability and action: 35 people commented on how they believe their reports were mishandled, and results of the open-ended responses showed that it’s not uncommon for the perpetrator to be rewarded (promoted) and the victim be punished (fired or pushed out of their jobs) following inappropriate workplace behavior. When making promotion decisions, it’s important to consider history of inappropriate workplace behaviors. By promoting someone with a history of reported harassment or discrimination, you are sending a message to all your employees that this behavior is acceptable or even encouraged.
Once an investigation is concluded, a follow-up conversation with the reporting party should be conducted, even if the results that the reporting party sought differ from your decision as an agency. This shows that you took the time to investigate the situation, questioned those involved, and came to an appropriate decision. This can help eliminate the feeling that you “didn’t do anything” or didn’t take the situation seriously.
Final thoughts
While there has been improvement in workplace culture over the last several years, the incidents described above are still happening in firehouses around the country. I know this to be true because it has happened to me, it’s happened to women I have worked with, and it’s happening to the women who participated in this study.
If you’re reading this and have gone through a similar experience, I want you to know that you’re not alone; there are hundreds of other people with stories like yours. You worked hard to get where you are, and you deserve to be here.
Access to the scholarly reviewed and published journal can be found here.
