International Women's Day: North Yorkshire firefighters breaking stereotypes
Three North Yorkshire Fire Fighters share what they loved about their job for International Women's Day
A group of female North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue officers say the stigma around who can be a good officer is being broken down, thanks to the attitudes of the next generation.
This International Women's Day, the trio are encouraging other women to take up the profession, saying it's "not all about muscle and brawn".
Tanya Liversedge-Gell worked at Richmond Fire Station before moving on to become a trainer for new recruits. She said there's no difference in attitudes between the genders.
"We've had a new group of recruits and I think of the 15, five of them were females. They just came in and said 'Yep, we're as good as the lads, good as anyone else. If I can do the job, I can do the job.' and they came with such a different attitudes to someone say of my age when I joined or female fighters from before where there was that prejudice", she said.
"I think it was just an old-fashioned view. I don't think that's the view of younger people. Time will change things and if you speak to the younger generation I don't think they'd think it's a 'man's job'. It's certainly not all about muscle and brawn.
"The generation below me don't think of challenges like that; they don't see barriers like we used to. I think we almost need to stop using terms like 'It's a man's job' and instead just say 'It's a job' and anyone can do it. If you can rock up on the day and pass the tests then you can join.
"If you can do the job, it doesn't really matter about your gender or your background."
"There was one time when we were all stood operating a branch together, three young women, fighting a fire and that was a really proud moment."
Georgie Estill works at Robin Hood's Bay Fire Station and she said:
"I do tend to get quite stuck in in the fire ground there's no reason why I wouldn't just because I'm a female. Whether someone's got my stature or skill set it doesn't matter what your gender is because you're going to go and do your job and I don't think anyone cares if they get rescued by a man or a woman, they're probably just happy to be rescued I'd imagine.
"It literally doesn't matter what your gender is, we all do the same thing. I guess men are scientifically speaking built stronger but you can train strength. I've had to do bits in the gym. We all have entry standards, we go through all the same tests and it's exactly the same whether you're male or female.
"There are scenarios where being a big, burly bloke isn't necessarily beneficial to a situation. I went to an incident last year, which was a road traffic collision, and it was a confined space because the casualty was physically trapped and so that's where my stature and flexibility comes in.
"We all got called out to an incident Friday before last. There were five pumps and one of them included another on-call station that have two female firefighters. There was one time when we were all stood operating a branch together, three young women, fighting a fire and that was a really proud moment."
Georgie has this message for women who want to consider a career in the industry:
"Why not? Like honestly why not? I'd never imagined I would be a firefighter and I love it. It's brilliant and it's a great service to work for. Everyone is really supportive and I half expected a little bit of sexism and bias because it's a massively male-dominated sector but it isn't. I fit right in."
Emily Williams, Crew Manager at North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service, said:
"You walk in and they'll say 'Oh you're the fireman!' and then it takes them a couple of seconds for them to think of how else to address you. As soon as you address the fact that I'm actually the crew manager, they kind of realise that this person is more than capable of doing the job.
“I do have to say it's not within the service itself. It's outside of the service. So it's the community and the public that almost gets shocked when they see us.
“I think it's just that initial shock when they see 5 foot 2 blondie-brown head female get off the wagon and they kind of think ‘Oh!’ but most of the time it's then followed with a lot of respect, particularly from women, you know, they'll give us a thumbs up or they'll say, ‘Well done’. Yeah, a lot of respect comes after it, I must say.”
This year's theme for International Women's Day is #BreakTheBias, to break the bias in communities, workplaces and in schools, colleges and universities.
The public are being encouraged to actively call out gender bias, discrimination and stereotyping each time they see it.