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Women leaders in wildland fire, defining resilience
While firefighting has long been perceived as a “man’s world”—a perception reinforced by gendered norms, equipment design, and institutional culture—women across the globe have increasingly carved out space for themselves on the fire line. Their paths have often been marked by marginalization, implicit bias, and challenges to advancement opportunities, even in countries where women make up a sizeable percentage of the wildland fire work force. But rather than focusing solely on barriers, which has been the bulk of the existing but limited research on this topic, this project documents and analyzes how women firefighters, especially those in leadership positions, have adapted to and redefined wildland firefighting environments, and explores the strategies women use to assert leadership, build resilience, and cultivate more inclusive cultures within fire crews. This ongoing study employs a unique methodology, drawing on the researcher’s own experiences as an anthropologist, prescribed fire practitioner, and wildland firefighter, and combines in depth interviews with women across the U.S., Canada, Europe, Latin America, Australia and beyond, with survey data from wildland firefighting communities, and firsthand documentation of fire line work. This presentation in particular highlights how these women leaders in wildfire have defined and enacted “resilience” in their lives and in their work and how this can help not only inspire future women seeking access to this field but also shape shifts in leadership culture in wildland fire.
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