Firehouse Locker Room Talk, Unwelcome Culture For Women: City

BOSTON, MA — On the same day a city-commissioned review of the fire department was released urging officials to up the number of women in the ranks, the mayor announced he planned to submit a bill to establish a new cadet program to recruit and train more women to serve as firefighters.

Like many fire departments throughout the country, the Boston Fire Department is dominated by men and has struggled to bring in more women. Of the roughly 1,500-member department just 16 are women, according to the report.

But it's the "male banter" or "locker room talk" that creates an unwelcoming culture for women and possibly other men, the report indicated:

"The lack of a critical mass of female firefighters results in a male dominated Department with male banter/"locker room talk" frequently occurring in firehouses without a regularly assigned female firefighter. Only 9 of the Department's 33 firehouses currently have a female firefighter regularly assigned. Hence, as female firefighters are detailed to other locations on a fairly regular basis, they find that the environment/culture is not as welcoming, professional and respectful as their normally assigned firehouses. Regardless of whether women are present, the standard of acceptable conduct should be the same in all firehouses and other locations and must be enforced uniformly at all times. The fact that women are not present should not be allowed to excuse behavior that is not professional and appropriate. Moreover, it is not necessarily just women who may find gender based comments or conduct unacceptable."

The commission's release comes months after female firefighter accused a Boston firefighter of sexually assaulting her at the Jamaica Plain Fire station on Centre Street. That firefighter, David Sanchez, was placed on administrative leave and was arraigned in April. The case is still pending in West Roxbury Municipal Court, and he's due to return to court next month for a pretrial hearing, according to the DA's office.

That instance, combined with three female firefighters coming forward to share their own stories with the Boston Globe, raised questions about the overall culture at the fire department.

In May, the city hired outside counsel, attorney Kay Hodge, to review the Boston Fire Department's handling of harassment and discrimination allegations brought by women firefighters.

In announcing that the review had been completed, the mayor also announced a cadet program similar to one the review recommended. He also pointed out what he described as progress in diversity hires.

The newest recruit class of 54 firefighters was sworn in last week, according to the mayor, marking the most diverse class since 2003.

"Of the class of 54 new firefighters, more than one-third, or 20 new firefighters, are people of color, including seven Asian individuals (more than doubling the number of Asian-American firefighters at BFD), seven Hispanic and six black individuals. At the same time, the class consisted of 53 males and one female (BFD's first Asian American female), reinforcing the need to further recruit women to serve as active firefighters in the Department," the mayor said in the announcement.

In addition to a cadet program to help funnel more women into the department, Walsh said the city planned to formally implement support systems to provide support and guidance for firefighters interested in becoming officers. He said the focus would be on encouraging women and minority firefighters.

He also said he planned to review and revise the City and Boston Fire Department policies and procedures to focus on inclusively at the workplace, and provide additional support, services, mentors and programs to support female firefighters. And he indicated he planned to ensure the department would continue to train officers to include firefighters on all protected categories, discrimination, anti-harassment, respectful workplace, implicit bias, and non-retaliation.

"This report makes clear that we have more work to do, and now more than ever I am committed to driving this needed change of embracing a culture of inclusion that will reach every corner of every firehouse," said Commissioner Joseph Finn in a statement.

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Boston Firefighter Accused Of Sexual Assault In JP Put On Leave (Patch)

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File photo by Jenna Fisher/Patch