Reporting of changes to strength tests for all firefighters was factually incorrect and seems designed to have a negative impact of serving and potential female firefighters, says Rachel Rogers
There is no getting away from the fact that the firefighter role is overwhelmingly male. Over the years women have showed themselves to be brave and tireless firefighters, but women remain very much under-represented.
There is more to be done here. All the more baffling, then, that some would take active steps that will likely have a negative impact on potential female firefighter applicants.
On 13 October the Telegraph published an article with the headline “Firefighters’ plan to recruit more women ... make strength tests easier”. The first line of the article said “A strength test for firefighters is to be made easier in a push to attract more women”.
This is not one of the (many) situations where we can smell the stench of a particular bias being put on a series of tenuous facts by a particular part of the media. There were no facts of substance here. The core of the article was and is factually wrong.
The article is misleading and has a substantial negative impact for existing women firefighters and potential applicants...
The evidence that the article relies on is the fact that the standard for the shoulder press test was made easier. However, the standard was changed to align with NFCC recommendations, and to reflect the newly registered (lower) weight of the ladders – as the article itself stated.
A quote from the HR manager at the service, Avon, additionally referenced “additional factors” such as “fatigue” and “allowance for different heights”.
There was no specific mention of an adjustment for gender in the article, aside from the Telegraph’s headline, first line, and a line in the article stating: “The move is expected to result in increasing numbers of female firefighters joining the service, as the shoulder press element had previously been failed by many female candidates,” with no further evidence provided for this sentence.
As a letter from the FBU’s National Women’s Committee pointed out to the Telegraph: “It is disappointing that there is no mention about how many male candidates have also failed the strength test, so no fair interpretation can be attained”.
We went on to state that: “The article is misleading and has a substantial negative impact for existing women firefighters and potential applicants, and undermines the achievement and courage of each and every one of our female members”.
Our letter was not published by the newspaper.
