Women firefighters allege sexist culture as FDNY commissioner quits

Article here. Excerpt:

'Firefighting is a male-dominated field nationwide, but New York City’s gender gap is especially glaring. According to personnel data collected by the City Council, less than 2% of the FDNY’s roughly 11,000 firefighters are women, compared to 9% nationwide and more than 12% in cities like Miami and San Francisco. The first woman to lead the department, Laura Kavanagh, stepped down on Wednesday, after less than two years on the job.

The FDNY did not make Kavanagh available to Gothamist for an interview. In an essay on Medium last month, she attributed her decision to wanting to spend more time with family and friends. Yet her exit has renewed attention to the FDNY’s gender gap, as well as long-standing complaints about sexism and harassment.

The department has for decades faced allegations of discriminatory practices, including brazen racism. But in recent public comments and interviews with Gothamist, women firefighters said the lack of racial and gender diversity affects their interactions in the field — where they help people from different backgrounds in their most vulnerable moments, often in their homes. Inside the firehouse, women’s scarcity translates into a lack of political power, coupled with a fear of retaliation for speaking out.'