Sexual Harassment: Women Firefighters' Experiences The data compiled below is from Women in the Fire Service's 1995 survey of fire service women on sexual harassment and other forms of job discrimination. It is drawn from the responses of 551 women in fire departments across the U.S. Of that total, 471 were career firefighters or officers, 62 were volunteer firefighters, and 18 were women with non-suppression careers in the fire service. (26 of the career firefighters and six of the women with other fire service careers were also volunteer firefighters; their data is included in the appropriate career category.)
Two other areas of harassing or discriminatory behavior were surveyed:
Overall experiences with sexual harassment Sixty-four women, or 12% of respondents, reported they had never experienced sexual harassment. Thus, 487 women -- 88% of fire service women responding-- had experienced some form of sexual harassment at some point in their fire service careers or volunteer time. Twenty-two percent of the women who reported one or more types of harassment said the harassment had occurred only in the past, which means nearly 70% of the women in the survey were experiencing ongoing harassment. Requests or demands for sexual favors One third of the women harassed (33%), or 29% of the women responding to the survey, reported requests or demands for sexual favors from co-workers or supervisors. More than two-thirds of the women (71%) reported the behavior had happened more than once. The survey options for indicating frequency were: "Never," "Once," "Several times," "Occasionally," and "Often." The frequency breakdown was:
107 women (22% of women who had been harassed) reported co-worker requests for sexual favors; 99 (20%) reported supervisor requests. Twenty-two women (4%) reported they had been subjected to supervisor demands for sex that they had to perform in order to get or keep their position; in 16 of the 22 cases (73%) the behavior had occurred more than once.
While this type of behavior is clearly common in fire stations, it was almost always accompanied by other forms of sexual harassment: in only 22 cases (less than 5% of the women reporting harassment) were sexual/sexist jokes or comments the only form of harassment experienced.
Harassment correlated with rank and career/volunteer status Only three of the 69 career firefighters who were captains or higher reported never having experienced any of the harassing behaviors on the survey; thus 96% (66 women) had been harassed. The percentage for career firefighters below the rank of captain was somewhat lower: 89% had been harassed. For ongoing harassment, the situation was reversed: 64% of the captains and higher were currently experiencing one or more forms of harassment, as opposed to 72% of the firefighters and lower-level officers. Of the ten volunteer firefighters who were captains or higher, four had never been harassed (40%) and one other had been harassed in the past only. Thus, 50% were currently experiencing some form of harassment, as compared with 60% of the 52 volunteer firefighters who were not captains or higher. Ninety percent of the career firefighters (424 women) reported experiencing one or more of the sexually harassing behaviors listed in the survey, compared with 76% of the 62 volunteers. Other forms of discrimination
141 women -- 30% of the women who had been sexually harassed -- had not filed a complaint or advised their department of the harassment, even though most of them had experienced harassment numerous times. Of the 339 women who said they had complained about harassment, only a third (115 women) listed only positive outcomes: investigating/taking care of the problem, and disciplining the harasser. [Note: Many women listed more than one outcome, often a mix of positive and negative ones, sometimes from the same complaint and sometimes reflecting how different complaints were handled.] More than half -- 55% -- listed only negative outcomes in response to their complaint. Overall, the responses were:
Several women who checked "investigated the problem" wrote explanatory notes such as: "investigated but did nothing," "did not let me know the results," "made a token effort only," or "investigated, but did not take care of the problem." Other comments from respondents on this section of the survey: "The officer was talked to; I was dismissed from the volunteer department without investigation or explanation." "They offered me counseling! I guess the guys I worked with for months (with them not speaking to me unless absolutely necessary regarding work) didn't have a problem, just me." "Sexual comments by new 'progressive' chief, no less, just a couple of years ago." "They moved me to another station; I was for it. My old station was beyond repair in terms of sexism and hate against my presence." "Once, they moved the harasser. The remaining crew members refused to talk to me or work with me until the harassing male was returned and I was transferred. After a month, the department did just that. I was moved to the station furthest from my home." "I went to the fire chief for help and was fired two weeks later after an investigation on me. He didn't believe me." "Never, never, never! Our chief will not tolerate any of the above-mentioned things and everyone knows it from Day One!" Copyright © 1996 Women in the Fire Service, Inc. May not be reprinted in any form without specific written permission. |
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