Tuesday, October 16News For London

Fireman to firefighter: LFB combats discrimination in anti-sexism campaign

by Jane Bracher

The London Fire Brigade (LFB) launched this month a new anti-sexism campaign called #FirefightingSexism, which promotes the switch from the masculine ‘fireman’ label to the gender neutral ‘firefighter’ when referring to the profession.

Dany Cotton, the first female Commissioner of the London Fire Brigade, spearheads new anti-sexism campaign. Screengrab from LFB Twitter

The campaign, which already gained significant traction on social media, aims to eradicate stereotypes that firefighting is exclusive to men. The LFB cited internal research that revealed there are still women put off by the job because of the label and its masculine portrayal in the media.

Dany Cotton, the first female Commissioner of the London Fire Brigade, is spearheading the drive toward a more diverse LFB.

“One thing for me that I still find really upsetting is the fact that lots of people still use the word ‘fireman’,” said Cotton on BBC Radio 4’s Women’s Hour. She became a firefighter at a time when there were just 30 women and 6,000 men.

“Because I want people to know that every time you say the word ‘fireman’ you’re excluding part of my team and you’re not including me.”

The LFB currently has 328 women out of 4,785 firefighters on the force, as of July 2016. But they aim to increase that number and employ more black minority fighters as part of a 10-year diversity plan.

But quashing deeply ingrained stereotypes in UK culture will be more difficult given other media portrayals of buff male firefighters, like the popular cartoon character ‘Fireman Sam’.

“That doesn’t help because that reinforces the image of little girls in school,” Cotton said of the character.

Mixed reactions

#FirefightingSexism was lauded by many including London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Labour MP Jim Fitzpatrick.

“Discrimination has no place in London,” Khan wrote in a tweet with the hashtag. “I applaud (the London Fire Brigade) for breaking down barriers for women in the workplace.”

The Fire Brigades Union supported the campaign, posting on their official Twitter account a photo of General Secretary Matt Wrack holding up the hashtag.

“We are proud and pleased to be part of this initiative,” the Union said in a follow-up tweet.

But in succeeding weeks the hashtag also attracted criticism from others who feel the label change is irrelevant, so long as they do their jobs and save people.

Others, however, accused the LFB of using public funds on ‘furthering political correctness rather than doing their jobs’.

The LFB responded to claims via their official Twitter account, saying no money was spent on the campaign.

Check out social media reactions to #FirefightingSexism below.

– Westminsterworld.com