By: Robert Avsec, Executive Fire Officer
The following definition of white privilege is courtesy of Professor Arlene Avakian’s class The Social Construction of Whiteness and Women at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
White privilege is a set of advantages and/or immunities that white people benefit from on a daily basis beyond those common to all others. White privilege can exist without white people’s conscious knowledge of its presence and it helps to maintain the racial hierarchy in this country.
“Being white means never having to think about it.”
-James Baldwin
A week or so ago, in preparation for an article I’d been assigned to write by my editor at FireRescue1.com, I posted a request for information on my LinkedIn and Facebook accounts asking for input on turnout gear fitting issues. One of the responses I received was from Cathy, a career firefighter with a large county fire and EMS department located in Virginia.
In reading her response, along with several others of a similar nature from other women, I believe that in the fire service in the USA we have a culture of male privilege. That definition would be:
Male privilege is a set of advantages and/or immunities that male firefighters benefit from on a daily basis beyond those common to all others. Male privilege can exist without male firefighters’ conscious knowledge of its presence and it helps to maintain the gender hierarchy in the fire service in the USA.
Cathy’s Story
I have a few issues with my turnout gear and it has taken me approximately 3 years to get someone to listen and realize that I am not just trying to draw attention to the fact that I am a female and I want to stand out. It appears that this is the perception, but I just want to blend in with all of them and I feel that I am not part of the system that we have because I am different.
I think that the trunk of my body must be a little shorter. When I wear my SCOTT SCBA, the cylinder sticks up a little higher and the brim of my helmet lays on it. It was so bad, that I could not just tilt my head to the side a little and look up when needed. I had to bend over and then turn my head a lot to see what was above me. I mentioned something to my crew and then to my officer.
I think they became uncomfortable to the fact that I would speak out against our issued gear. I only stated that my
helmet keeps me from “effectively doing my job.” This went on for a couple of years. I worked up the courage to take it forward to the safety office. Didn’t hear anything for a couple of months, then the email came and I have never seen so many names cc’d before. I felt kind of isolated and it felt like I had done something wrong.
So, somebody finally stated that I needed to change the way that I was wearing my SCBA. I had made numerous attempts to reposition my SCBA, but nothing worked and I even tried repositioning my helmet. I eventually was issued the old salad bowl [type of helmet] and it is amazing. There were a lot of political issues that occurred, and I still get comments of why I choose to be different. Well, I am . We are all a little different.
I have an hourglass shape and my coat fits great in my chest and back, but it is the same diameter all the way down and when it reaches my hips, well, you know when they ask “does this make my butt look big”? Well, it makes me feel like my butt is an enormous battleship. It was very tight. I was able to fasten my coat, but there was not room for movement, so I removed the bottom of my coat, which is where the name [panel] attaches. When I was questioned why I removed my name tag, I explained my circumstance and the cycle repeated itself.
We have a new logistics manager who happens to be a female and had good knowledge about it. I have been given the opportunity to talk with her and she immediately recognized the problem with my coat and is working to resolve it. I felt the weight lift off of me, when I realized I was going to get help.
This probably appears that I am venting, but it feels good to put this in words for you. This has been ugly for me and I have grown and developed confidence and have learned to stand alone when I feel strong about a circumstance, so I am actually grateful that this is happening. I have had many positive results with all that has occurred, but it is a choice to keep a good attitude.
I know I have probably portrayed this as a negative impact, but I have 
used it for goodness. I have taken 4 minutes off of my annual work performance evaluation test and I now don’t have to worry about something falling from above and hitting me. I can also look up and see the ladders on the side of the apparatus when I take them down. It has been amazing.
Does this happen in your department? If you’re a male firefighter reading this post, do you “get it”?
It’s not about the equipment. We could just as easily be discussing sleeping quarters and bathroom facilities in fire stations. Or professional development and promotional opportunities. Shoot, we could even go all the way back to entry-level training to get the job in the first place.
No, it’s about the fire service institutions and men–who still hold the vast majority of leadership positions in the fire service–who make the rules. Even beyond the rules, it’s male privilege “at work”.
See Related: Arlington County Hires First Full-Time Female Firefighter in USA
I believe the woman. I also had the same issue with my bottles. Since it took me five years to get my three year coat, I knew better than to even ask. I also saw others with the same issue. Pretty much standard gear on custom bodies means a minority will get a good deal. Then again, I’m a white male, and I’m very aware that I could be biased and not know it. I do know when it came to retiring, females and males were treated the same: no recognition whatsoever.
I know my comments are old, but…. boy does this bring back memories… This is exactly the same issue I had as a female 27 years ago when I started. So sad to see it is still going on. I had my gear issued by a male, who was actually a mentor and was not intentionally trying to be a jerk. But, he just couldn’t understand my issues. My legs are shorter, so the rise in front (zipper area) of my pants was long – for the males. What that left was the crotch halfway to my knees. In order to take a step up, I had to hike up my pants to get the crotch where it need to be so I could lift my leg up for the step. He did try and had me “custom measured” by the gear company. Totally ridiculous fit. It wasn’t until I joined another department as a FT FF and became their equipment specialist. I tried different sizes and styles of gear. I found a style that had a low front rise. At that time, it was Morning Pride. I found the right size of coat and pants, not what they guy thought I should be. For the women who had the hourglass shape, when new gear was ordered, we added triangle shaped panels from the armpit to the bottom for extra room in the hip. If the women had small feet and bigger calves, we special ordered our leather boots. When I first took the agility test, I was dragging the dummy and walking backwards.. blind, because the bottle was so high that when I picked up the dummy and looked strait ahead, the bottle pushed my helmet forward over my eyes. Most women do not want to call attention to themselves.. they really do just want to blend in and it isn’t because they are being vain either. What was funny was… when I had to fit the men into gear, I had to ask their pant size to get me sizes close for them to try on. They would come in and say 34 or 36 and after about a year of doing it, I just reached for the 38 or 40 and had them try those sizes and they would fit!
I could have been this Firefighter “Cathy” many times over in my 32 year career, with bunker coats, pants, boots, gloves, and the like. Including this very same issue as FF Cathy. And I had very similar responses, and backlash for needing a “different ” helmet, and all the other special needs because women were rarely ever considered during gear manufacturing and purchasing. Even as an officer some 20 years later in another department I was given a subpar facemask speaker/mike that was too heavy for the facepiece from the new SCBA pack. This SCBA facemask already did not fit well and slid all over my narrow cheeked face and thin chin when I sweat, which in FL was always! This was an issue I never had the prior 22 years and thousands of fires that I worked. At this new department they went to a different SCBA, not SCOTT or MSA, I had no issues with those packs except the height of the pack on my back interferring with the helmets. This company went to an all silicone mask and a quick don spider that even in its tightest setting was just a bit too big. The speaker mikes easily shorted out on movement. Maybe to some, a small issue but not when your health and safety rely on a good seal and others rely on your communication. I was basically told that because the men did not have any issues it must be operator error or my “hair”. I had always had hair though so I knew that was not the issue! The facemask slipped so badly that during a training drill requiring us to crawl as we would in a fire, the movement of the hoseline completely knocked my facemask off my face, and the SCBA connection apart, again I was told it was operator error, because none of the men could recreate the event that happened to me. Apparently they could not accept that I might actually know what I was talking about, even though I had worked thousands more fires in my tenure than these “men” all without any issues prior to this. The large heavy speaker/mike caused my mask to slip around even more. New probationary male firefighters were given the smaller new speakers even though they had minimal to no radio time. I had to bring these issues up over and over and over before I got any results and at that it took the facemask tester, a male firefighter from another department to get it done for me! When he brought it up, management listened but they got upset and showed it in their attitudes and communications toward me and others about me. When I spoke up they simply dismissed me as “being a complainer” and somehow “ineffective and incompetent”. These perceptions and sharing of them among the firefighters really created issues for me. I no longer have any issues though, I am no longer in the fire service. The Fire Service lost a good leader. I am happy that I have seen some changes in the Fire Service when it comes to gear at least by some companies. Many of those changes have been private industry driven listening to women or driven by women leading from positions not necessarily at the top of fire service organizations. Never be happy with the status quo, if it doesn’t work, work to change it, and never be afraid to rock the boat, someone behind you will enjoy the calmer waters. I know that the failure of leadership to listen is not simply a woman’s issue it is a shared issue and is the problem of the leaders.