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City analysis finds SFFD leads large departments in female representation but flags recruitment barriers
Summary
A new gender analysis presented to the Fire Commission found San Francisco has higher female representation among large fire departments yet identified persistent recruitment and retention barriers — notably the physical ability test, limited applicant pipeline, and childcare/shift-work challenges — and recommended targeted outreach and additional study.
A gender analysis of nontraditional occupations presented to the San Francisco Fire Commission on Aug. 10 concluded that while the San Francisco Fire Department compares favorably with many large U.S. departments in female representation, the city still faces recruitment and retention barriers that limit women's entry to public-safety careers.
Dr. Marassey (presenting with policy fellow Elizabeth Yang) told commissioners the analysis combined quantitative workforce data and interviews. Yang summarized earlier work (2011 and 2014) and described the 2016 project as including labor-market utilization calculations and interviews with women in public-safety roles. "The biggest highlights from the 2016 interviews was difficulty in recruitment," Yang said, and she identified the physical ability test as a major barrier to expanding the candidate pool.
Yang and Marassey recommended several measures: more strategic, gender-responsive recruitment targeted to veterans, athletes and women already demonstrating relevant physical skills; improved outreach and exam-preparation resources (including online sign-up and practice materials); expanded internal culture-building and mentoring; and exploring citywide childcare options to accommodate shift work.
Commissioners praised the department's progress. Vice President Ken Cleveland called San Francisco "the leading large fire department in gender equality" and urged staff to share lessons with other cities. Commissioners requested additional work: broader focus groups or exit interviews to increase sample size (the presentation's women-interview sample was four), and a list of organizations useful for targeted recruiting.
Next steps identified in the meeting included continuing outreach and developing more comprehensive focus-group research and exit interviews to better understand retention and attrition trends.
