NY Woman to Become Fire Fighter Without Passing Physical Exam

[Angelowl]

No, no, no. Just no. A very bad and stupid idea. The proper feminist approach to this is to have the same standards for everyone and let everyone have a fair chance at the tests. Way more women can pass the "male standards" than a lot of people realise. They really do not need to have easier standards. This is not a school test where everyone is forced to do it, this is the bare mininum for people in dangerous important jobs for people with a passion.

 

[tilmoph]

Ok, no, this is not ok. This is not the kind of job where lowering requirements to up diversity quotas can go well. You need to be able to break through debris. You need to be able to assist or carry unconscious people from a burning building. You need to be able to move the hose up those stairs, and hold onto it while it sprays. You need these basic skills, these physical abilities, to be a firefighter. Lowering them puts lives at risk. Diversity quotas are not worth people's lives.

 

[Pirate Of PC Master race]

Lol, US. You are hilarious. I will glance at the news as it develops, if I see it again..

Good thing that I don't live in that general area.

 

[PsychicTaco115]

See, I'm more worried about the jokes other countries are going to make about the US now

"The US is sooooo fat, they had to hire someone who could only carry a Twinkie to safety!"

Damn other countries and their mocking laughter

 

[RJ 17]

Lol, US. You are hilarious. I will glance at the news as it develops, if I see it again..

Good thing that I don't live in that general area.

Considering the fact that she could only run up 6 flights of stairs before being heavily winded (according the the ABC radio news report I originally heard this story from) and the fact that she works in New York City, which has countless building above 6 stories, yeah...I'm pretty glad I don't live there either.

 

[marioandsonic]

I understand wanting more diversity in the workforce, but...no. Just no.

Even if you're getting hired just so the company can meet a diversity quota or whatever, you still need to be able to do the job.

 

[VanQ]

You know, people keep saying how bad it'll be for fire victims when she can't carry them out.

There's a good chance that she's gonna burn alive herself before anyone else. We have an unqualified person entering into flaming homes. Yeah. She's the one who's going to be roasted alive here.

Hooray equality of outcome!

 

[Pirate Of PC Master race]

You know, people keep saying how bad it'll be for fire victims when she can't carry them out.

There's a good chance that she's gonna burn alive herself before anyone else. We have an unqualified person entering into flaming homes. Yeah. She's the one who's going to be roasted alive here.

Hooray equality of outcome!

That's going to be even worse. Imagine a public outcry for death caused by lowering the standards.

The family of the dead fireperson will sue government for millions.

When it happens - and it will - I will microwave popcorn. It will be a good show.

 

[HardkorSB]

Well, as long as they'll give her a desk job, it should be OK.

 

[Eddie the head]

At least those people burning to death will know there's a bit more equality in the world.

I laughed at that I'm not going to lie.

Yeah what everyone else said seams kind of silly if true. There could be a miscommunication somewhere, but it doesn't look like it.

 

[RJ 17]

Well, as long as they'll give her a desk job, it should be OK.

As I mentioned to someone else a little earlier:

Per the New York Post article:

"Upon graduation, Wax would be assigned to a firehouse and tasked with the full duties of a firefighter."

So yeah, we're not talking about a desk job here, we're talking about hopping on a truck and going to emergencies.

 

[rcs619]

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=new+york+fire+fighter+graduates+without+passing+physical

Just the generic google search link as the source since every time I link to a specific article people complain about bias...so there, pick your own damn article.

Point is that the NY fire department is graduating a prospective fire fighter who failed to pass the strenuous physical examination that all other recruits up until now have been forced to pass. Why? Because she's a woman. Evidently the mayor's office has been putting pressure on the fire department to hire more women considering the fact that there only about 40 women on the force out of over 10K people.

That said, all the women that are on the force passed the physical exam.

Keep in mind, the issue is not that they've lowered the physical requirements specifically for women, it's that they instituted a process by which the prospective firefighter's academic and physical scores are combined into a total that has to be met to pass overall. While I get the reasoning behind such a system, and the desire to open up firefighting to more women, it's dumb. And it only does a disservice to people like this woman who barely scrape through by the skin of their teeth. Better they fail, train more and come back later to pass properly, than to have this sort of controversy constantly hang over their career. This is especially true when the physical element is arguably the primary requirement for the job.

So yeah. Well-intentioned, but dumb. Especially when the 39 other women have already shown that women can pass the tests just fine without having to use an aggregate score from both portions. What is important here is equality of opportunity, not equality of results. Women should have all the opportunity to try out for any career that they want, and if they meet the set requirements of that career than they should absolutely be allowed to do it. However, biologically, men and women *are* different, and there *are* going to be fields where one gender dominates due to that biological predisposition. There is nothing wrong with that either, so long as opportunity to be in that field is equal across the board.

 

[Jack Action]

You know, people keep saying how bad it'll be for fire victims when she can't carry them out.

There's a good chance that she's gonna burn alive herself before anyone else. We have an unqualified person entering into flaming homes. Yeah. She's the one who's going to be roasted alive here.

Hooray equality of outcome!

That's going to be even worse. Imagine a public outcry for death caused by lowering the standards.

The family of the dead fireperson will sue government for millions.

When it happens - and it will - I will microwave popcorn. It will be a good show.

What's going to be worse is that along with her, whoever she'll be trying to rescue will also die, plus her team who'll try and pull her out no matter how much they hate her. So add a few more multi-million lawsuits on top of that.

 

[FoolKiller]

They should stick her at a desk. She's not only a danger but a disgrace. If I was in a company I would not go out in the field with her. I appreciate that she did the best she could, but sometimes its just not good enough.

By this argument, she should also play for the NY Yankees. Their roster is all male and requires job-specific skills but hey, she's a female.

PS. I say disgrace because if a person doesn't qualify then they should do the honourable thing and turn down the affirmative hire job offer.

 

[Darks63]

The thing that worries me about this story is it could set a legal precedent that allows this to happen elsewhere. If that happens it would become a timebomb waiting to happen.

 

[Raesvelg]

Even more fun than the thought of having a firefighter that can't carry my 250lb ass out of a burning building is what kind of shitstorm is going to ensue when she gets bullied out of the department.

Because odds are pretty damned good that that's exactly what's going to happen if they actually put her in a fire company.

 

[theNater]

So, last year saw the graduation of 286 firefighters out of a class of 319, while this year saw 305 graduate out of a class of 320.

I'm frankly more worried about the (approximately) 15 guys who don't know how to handle hazardous materials or perform inspections than the one gal who can't drag a person around.

 

[Sanderpower]

I'm in favor of women joining the military and doing strenuous tasks as men, but only if they can pass the physical exams as well. What's the point in having more woman firefighters if she isn't as good as the other male firefighters? You only have 40 women? Fine, those 40 women are just as strong as their male counterparts and can do their jobs. Lowering the standards just for the sake of filling up a gender quota is insulting to both women and firefighters not to mention a danger to society.

This is just positive discrimination. What a bunch of nonsense.

 

[spartenX]

So, last year saw the graduation of 286 firefighters out of a class of 319, while this year saw 305 graduate out of a class of 320.

I'm frankly more worried about the (approximately) 15 guys who don't know how to handle hazardous materials or perform inspections than the one gal who can't drag a person around.

how do you know they just didn't have a higher rate of people who were able to pass the exams this year than last year?

 

[Dragonlayer]

I long for the day when all emergency services follow the fine example of New York and drive out the scourge of competence to embrace the glory of meaningless diversity. I think we can all agree the world will be a better place when the completely blind can drive ambulances, the armless can become police officers and the deaf can be emergency phone operators.

*Tearful gaze*