For Sam over at On the Clock

Sam posed the question of women in EMS and firefighting.

Firefighting is hands down a physical profession, for everyone. Most would say comparing men against women is unfair, it's apples and oranges. The concept that men were biologically designed with larger muscles and stronger skeleton, women being smaller framed with less muscle mass. Everyone assumes then that women could not possible perform as a firefighter. Now I know I will catch a bunch of crap over this, but the women that I've worked with and the women I've been to class with were all more then capable. When using proper body mechanics I've seen women perform the exact same functions as men. During class I've been "rescued" from a ladder by a gal who probably weighed in at 110. Now being roughly six foot tall and on a good day weighing in at 270 in full turnout gear, I'm quite the victim to rescue. The gal performed perfectly, using the techniques she was taught. There is only one act that I think some women might not have the brute strength to tackle, the rescue of a down firefighter. Now, do I believe that anyone man or women is dragging my 270 pound ass out of a burning building, absolutely not. I have never had a problem working with women in general, of course I've had attitude conflicts but none related to gender. My personal exception is women that are on the fire department for the wrong reasons. Systems that run both fire and ems, like mine, seem to have women that are there strictly for the ems portion and not the fire. Firefighting is a due that they pay for be able to work in ems. These are the people in my experience that do not put in the effort and sometimes don't seem fit for the job. Don't forget, the physical tests are the same for both sexes, at least where I'm at.

As for EMS
I shall choose my words wisely as my lady is a full time paramedic for a large private ambulance company in town. I would prefer to ride with at least one women on the crew, that way the ambulance has someone to clean it, I'm just kidding so settle down. I can recall many runs where having a women aboard was a huge benefit. Setting aside the issue of skills as anyone can learn to read the monitor or start an IV and with hydraulic stretchers no one has to lift anymore. I will say a women's touch is a real thing and not just for calls with "women's issues." I don't think anyone would disagree with the notion that women have a greater nurturing effect than men. Lets face it, does a small child whose scared from a accident on his bike run to a man in uniform or a woman. Does an out of control drunk patient not play nice if he thinks he's going home with his female caretaker. I'm not insinuating that women should be used to distract a patient simply because they are female, but there seems to be a certain calming effect. Could one hypothesis that that might be a reason that historically most nurses are women? Just a thought. Having a women partner just makes sense to me, you have the best of both worlds.