Over Thirty Years Later, the Problems Continue


The Tucson Weekly published an article recently about a retired woman firefighter, who faced abusive behavior while performing her job. Her lawsuit is still up in the air.

Reading this article brought back many memories. Not only did I have to deal with the same kinds of complaints from my crew, but some of my supervisors (also men) were not supportive. When I filed an EEO complaint against a man who outwardly discriminated against me, no actions were taken. The year after the complaint, I discovered that the complaint followed me to another National Forest, and I found myself  "blacklisted" from every being on a fire crew there. I, too, was labeled a troublemaker.

There is no doubt in my mind that this woman held her own at work, because if I could do it, so can she. I find it frustrating this continues. No wonder only 1% of firefighters in this country are women.




2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Linda-

It continues to amaze and demoralize me that small-minded thinkers can still dominate branches of our federal government. Maybe its time for an all-women crew to take to the field.

Keep up the good work.

John Anderson

Linda Strader said...

Actually, there is an all-woman crew known as Apache 8! They formed one year before I started (1975).