Just above 3% of the Fort Worth Fire Department employees are women, the department to hire new workers in an effort to change this
Fort Worth, TX – Only 3.2% of the total number of employees in the Fort Worth Fire Department are women, while 96.8% are men, the latest FWFD report submitted to the city council shows.
The percentage of women employees in the department is even less than the country’s average of 4%.
According to the Fort Worth Fire Department officials, they are about to hire new female candidates in an effort to increase the number of female workers in the department.
“Hiring qualified female candidates continues to be a national problem for the fire service and is one of our most complex human resource challenges,” documents stated.
In the 2020-2021 class, 124 women took the exam and 11 were hired. In the same class, documents show:
- No Shows/Withdrawals: 20
- Did not pass interview: 7
- Eliminated during Backgrounds: 9
- Failed Aerobic Capacity Run: 28
- Resignations/Terminations while in Training: 3
- Fallout rate during hiring process: 84.81%
The department is making an effort to increase the number of women in the department including mentoring candidates before physical tests, having women in the department assist in all stages of hiring, modifying fire stations to meet the needs of women and a one-day camp for teenagers and young women between the ages of 14 and 19.
