"They also pointed out the things I didn't share with my male predecessors, but failed to mention all the experience I had that they lacked. We still treat women at the helm as exceptions and judge them by a blueprint built for men. The question isn't whether a "perfect" woman can endure the old rules; it's whether we're willing to rewrite them."
"Take the FDNY. The image is an iconic one: a broad-shouldered firefighter charging into a burning building, hauling people to safety. That's absolutely part of the work-and it always will be. However, the vast majority of our city's emergency calls involve responding to complex emergencies, many of which are medical crises. Nationwide, only about 4% of calls are fire-related-a statistic that bears out similarly in NYC. On any given day, the FDNY treats cardiac arrests, overdoses, and mental-health episodes; they steady panicked families;"
A woman leading the FDNY encountered focus on being "first" and on differences from male predecessors while her relevant experience was overlooked. Women leaders are still treated as exceptions and evaluated against male-designed standards, prompting a need to rewrite those rules. The FDNY responds mostly to medical and complex emergencies rather than fires; only about 4% of calls are fire-related. FDNY personnel handle cardiac arrests, overdoses, mental-health episodes, family stabilization, and multi-agency coordination. Women comprise less than 2% of firefighters, and recruitment, training, and retention remain uphill efforts, with marginalized women facing pressure to conform or be labeled troublemakers.
Read at Fortune
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]