Life as a female firefighter Darling chatted to Kathryn Duncan, London Fire Brigade’s Station Commander for Forest Hill fire station. She explains what her job entails Tell us a little bit about your story. What inspired you to become a fire fighter? My father was a firefighter, so it was a natural choice for me. I grew up knowing women could be firefighters and didn’t realise, even after training school, that some women had never even considered it, and that this alone, was a large barrier to recruiting women.
Why do you think there aren’t as many women firefighters as men? Firefighting is traditionally seen as a male role. The media can be part of the problem. I still see the term “Firemen” used on mainstream channels such as the BBC and Sky News. It’s not really funny but I have seen the term used 48
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next to a photograph of a female firefighter. We’re slowly gaining in numbers and do this by spreading awareness with the communities we serve. I hope the photograph of myself in this magazine will be seen by at least one woman who thinks “I can do that!”.
How are the issues of gender diversity being addressed by fire services? Traditionally fire services have not had to run recruitment campaigns to get the number of firefighters required. When the Government made this a measurable criteria to ensure diversity, more research was carried out on how to recruit from underrepresented groups. This led to a bigger uptake in women applying. We also run workshops demonstrating the
