International Women’s Day is a day to both celebrate women’s achievements and raise awareness of gender equality. Any trade unionist will know that equality is a trade union principle and it is an FBU priority every single day of the year.
The FBU’s National Women’s Committee (NWC) is committed to fighting specifically for the interests of female firefighters and emergency fire control staff. In this, we will challenge the accepted norms and raise understanding of what equality means - to recognise unconscious bias and to challenge misogyny at every level. It is necessary to recognise these behaviours in order to challenge them.
Women must not be expected to #ChooseToChallenge alone. This stance must be adopted by the majority in order for it to be effective. This is the only way we will eradicate bullying and harassment in the workplace.
It continues to shock me that this behaviour, not only persists, but is tolerated by far too many. The culture within the fire and rescue service lends itself to camouflage certain behaviours, and it turns a blind eye to those whom we should be supporting and empowering others to find their voice. For anyone to achieve their potential they must feel strong in themselves and confident enough to progress.
Many brigades ‘speak the words’ and ‘promote the inclusion and equality message’ with the use of banners and catchy social media campaigns. However, in order to truly support the cause and demonstrate real commitment to this movement, polices must be overhauled. Furthermore, real progress must be made to improve working conditions for women to not only attract the best, but to retain the best.
The UK itself is far from being the ‘front-runner’ on the list of countries working towards workplace equality. As such, the variation in fire service policies that support women is vast, some sitting only marginally within their legal obligations. The services who benefit mostly from improved diversity will be the ones that implement genuine policies to support their women employees though every stage of their working life.
This year has brought me the privilege of being elected chair of the NWC - a role I feel very proud to have accepted. It has been a steep learning curve, but with the FBU’s support, the committee knows we can achieve our goals to inspire, educate and empower women firefighters and control members to have a strong voice in their workplace.
On International Women’s Day, I encourage all women to: step outside their comfort zone, to continue to grow in their fire service role, go for that next promotion, get involved with their FBU branch and take advantage of the many different development opportunities that the FBU can provide. Together, we will recognise and challenge discrimination and we will work to eradicate inequality.
