A Replication of the 2008 U.S. National Report Card Study on Women in Firefighting

Women comprise 51% of the population in the United States (U.S.), but fill only 3.7% of paid firefighting positions.  This study replicates the survey portion the 2008 benchmark study The National Report Card on Women in Firefighting (Hulett, Bendick, Thomas & Moccio, 2008). Using the same survey instrument as the 2008 study, this research examined the perceptions of 141 firefighters from across the U.S. to determine key issues limiting female participation in the fire and emergency service and how results compared to the findings by Hulett et al. in 2008.  

Results showed that significantly more women than men felt they were treated differently due to their gender, experienced ill fitting “turn-out” or “bunker gear,” perceived supervisors did not address complaints concerning gender related incidents, and were treated differently due to sexual orientation. In addition, they revealed that there were no formal procedures for race or gender-based complaints.  More women than men felt that promotions were not decided upon fairly and that their gender was a barrier to career development (α=.05).  Another set of findings were that the group of survey takers in this study answered in a statistically similar way to the survey takers in the 2008 The National Report Card on Women in Firefighting survey.  Recommendations include future studies using the 2008 study findings as a benchmark, and the introduction of polices supporting cultural changes in the fire and emergency services.