PC in Swedish fire service puts lives in danger

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I didn't know that PC meant actually being correct, politically and socially, which is what Swedes admirably are, and are working to be. But sometimes this can also go too far and have bad consequences, maybe not as bad as in other countries, but still a bit too much of course.

There is a very easy way to solve this. You have tests, if they can't do it they fail. Many males will also fail. There might be females that succeed.

There are lot of different roles for first responders, paramedic being a good option. Some fire-service carry their own medics, it saves time, these can be dual role, commander, driver, etc.

Probably. They need to have an opportunity as well.

The only thing that is evident is that women need more muscular training. Denying that women have less muscles than men (in average) is unrealistic. I didn't read the article but if this is denied by the swedish authorities, then there will be unpleasant consequences. There are women soldiers, so why wouldn't there be women firefighters?

I think the wrong blog post has been linked to there. That one doesn't say whether the women are being hired because they are the only volunteers, for example- better to have women as part of the force than be short staffed.

This one explains the issue better: http://www.d-intl.com/the-equality-fire ... VdSRjd0iSo

Apparently women were being selected ahead of more able men. The women who have remained are now good firefighters but it looks like the brigade could have hired men who were more capable. This seems silly- people should not be hired to fill quotas, but because they are the best for the job.

The only thing that makes me doubt the truthfulness of the article is the occasional reference to race or nationality. Why bring it up at all?

Because they are conservative and reactionary, d'uh.

I think using quotas is viewed upon as a proactive solution for better recruitment and equality in something (like a field of work) in the future. If they don't use quotas then it will never change. I think this has considerable positive effect, and may be needed in something like the fire brigade (which is very dominated by men). It changes culture, accept, belief in oneself and possibities. ++ And that may be a good thing.

See, I can understand why people might think that quotas in business or law or medicine or any number of professions might be a good idea. But the fire brigade is an area where physical strength counts big time, and can very easily be measured. Generally men comfortably outperform women in strength (I'm often amazed how much stronger I am than my female friends, and I'm very weedy) so we should expect the fire service to be male dominated if strength is one of the main criteria for selection.

Of course, female firefighters might have advantages as well. They might be better at making decisions under pressure (and the sorts of temperatures encountered in a house fire are amongst the most pressure a human can come under). They could literally be better at keeping a cool head. They might, therefore, have a place in the brigade alongside male firefighters.

Google Gloria Steinem and firefighters some time, her quotes are priceless.

Why not post the standards on the wall for physical and psychological testing, and background checks and hire from the pool that passes? Being a firefighter is a highly respected job that often pays well, but the emergencies they encounter don't cut anyone slack to get reasonable accommodations for gender, age, or disability. By all means hire women if they can meet the standards required of men and move existing women that can't cut it to other sworn jobs in the department.