Featured Work
Why So Few Female Firefighters, NYC?
Last Friday, a committee of the New York City Council attempted to answer a simple question: Why is it that in the year 2013, only 37 of 10,500 firefighters in New York City are women? Why is it that only a fraction of one percent of New York City's firefighters are women, when in other urban fire departments in places like Miami, San Francisco, and Minneapolis, women account for 13 to 17 percent of firefighters?
Your Place is in the Kitchen, Not on a Fire Truck
Last week, we filed a friend-of-the court brief in support of Aimee Greene, a firefighter who faced discrimination and harassment while working in the Buckeye Valley Fire District in Arizona. Despite having college degrees in firefighting, thousands of hours of firefighting experience, and consistently positive job evaluations, Aimee was denied a promotion to captain. In fact, when it became known within the firehouse that a woman wanted to be a captain, Aimee's male coworkers turned on her, calling her abusive names, telling her she had no "right" to seek promotion, and making her do training drills alone while the others watched and mocked her. Aimee was told that her place was in the kitchen, not on a fire truck.