Challenges for female firefighters

February 14, 2023

The National Fire Protection Association estimated female firefighters made up 9 percent — around 89,600 — of 1.04 million career and volunteer firefighters in the U.S. in 2020. The Cedar Rapids Fire Department has eight female firefighters.

Wichmann and her coworkers listen to a battalion chief’s instructions during a training tower drill in Cedar Rapids on Monday, Jan. 2, 2023. Wichmann and Amy Kunkle, Fire and Explosives Investigator at the Cedar Rapids Fire Department (CRFD), both said there have been instances where young girls come up to them and ask for a photo, having never seen a female firefighter before. Both Wichmann and Kunkle said they want to serve as role models in the community so girls think about firefighting as a career path when they are older. (Grace Smith/The Daily Iowan)

Amy Kunkle, Cedar Rapids Fire Department fire and explosives investigator, said she’s experienced challenges being a woman in the fire service, including self-imposed hardships.

“It feels like, as a woman, you have to prove yourself more than a male does,” Kunkle said. “And I’m not saying that’s reality. It’s just kind of something that myself and others that I work with feel.”

Kunkle, who is 45 years old, has worked at the department since 2008. She found there are many benefits to having female firefighters out in the field.

She said even though men may naturally be built physically bigger and stronger, there are a lot of circumstances where bigger isn’t better.

One day on the job, Kunkle and her coworkers responded to a house fire. As Kunkle was circling the home and looking for potential victims and fire hazards, she noticed the department’s hose nozzle was placed on the wrong side of the fence. So, Kunkle had to hop over a fence quickly to start putting water on the fire as soon as possible.

“I wouldn’t be in the field if I didn’t believe that I could do it,” Kunkle said.

Jennifer Alexander, a preschool teacher at Cadence Academy in Iowa City and a volunteer firefighter for the Coralville Fire Department, said she bears external hardships in the fire service.

Alexander is a 5-foot tall, 125-pound woman in the fire service. She said people sometimes underestimate her skills because of her stature and her gender.

Firefighters Nick Wallraff and Megan Wichmann watch a coworker crawl out a window at a training tower in Cedar Rapids on Monday, Jan. 2, 2023. (Grace Smith)

Alexander said gear is an unexpected challenge she experiences daily. She said she wishes gear was more accessible and fit women better so they could complete tasks to the best of their ability without having inappropriately-sized gear slowing them down.

“We have to do the same work as men — in gear that’s not designed to fit us using tools that aren’t designed with us in mind — and have to be able to do it at the same standard of quality and efficacy as men,” Alexander said.

Alexander said the department is aware of issues with her gear not fitting. But because of cost and gear being normally purchased in bulk, the department is not able to provide her with properly-fitting gear. However, she said the department has been able to accommodate her with inexpensive equipment including suitable structure gloves.

Alexander said, along with the constraints of gear, she sometimes feels restrained when using her voice and asserting herself in situations.

Megan Wichmann sleeps on a chair while the team watches a movie inside the Cedar Rapids Central Fire Station on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022. (Grace Smith)

“If a woman is assertive and a little aggressive, they’re a b****,” Alexander said. “But if a man is aggressive and standing his ground, he’s just being assertive.”

She said it often feels like high school all over again.

“If you get the highest score on a math test, everyone hates you because you set the curve,” Alexander said. “But if you’re the captain or the quarterback for the football team or the star basketball player, and you score the winning points, it’s announced on the loudspeaker how great and awesome you are.”