Highlighting the need for equality, the new trade show for fire, protection and rescue also offers women in the rescue services a valuable platform for information, dialogue and recognition.

'3 Questions To' with Birgit Kill, project coordinator of 'Women in the Fire Service' at VdF NRW, the Association of Fire Brigades in North Rhine Westphalia

112RESCUE: You've been project coordinator of 'Women in the Fire Service' at VdF NRW, the Association of Fire Brigades in North Rhine Westphalia since the end of 2018. Why is the issue of women in the fire service so important to you? What are you campaigning for?

Birgit Kill: Women are important mainstays in working life and society at large – not just in everyday situations, but in the fire service as well. However, making up less than 8% of personnel in the volunteer fire services and less than 2% in the full-time fire services, women are significantly under-represented. There is tremendous potential here in terms of numbers but also in terms of substantive enrichment. Women have their own gender competencies that are a real boon in the operative and organisational life of fire services. At the end of the day, fire services also have to implement gender equality – that's taken for granted nowadays – in their own practices and use it to positive effect in what they do.

112RESCUE: According to a 2019 survey by the German Civil Servants' Association, firefighters are held in the highest esteem by the population, even ranking ahead of doctors. However, a look at other statistics also shows that, of 100 active firefighters, only 8 are female. In the full-time fire services, that proportion is as low as 1.68%. What do you put this down to...?

Birgit Kill: The reasons for this may be diverse. The key factor is the thinking in the heads of the – mostly male – leaders and the lack of active recruitment of women firefighters. Here, reservations about physical limitations of women need to be addressed, the positive aspects of women firefighters need to be emphasised, and irrational awareness of tradition needs to be corrected. Women in the fire service should not be seen as a disruptive factor, but as an asset. Above all, women are needed as role models at all levels up to the top-level association of fire services, the German Fire Brigades Association. Another important point here is the room for improvement that still exists in enabling a balance between family, career and voluntary work.

112RESCUE: On New Year's Eve 2022, there were riots and attacks on police, fire brigade and rescue services in various major German cities, including Hagen. How do you deal with that? Are women more vulnerable to such assaults than their male counterparts?

Birgit Kill: Attacks on police, rescue services and fire services – and on any other people – must be condemned in the strongest possible terms, and violent criminals must be punished without compromise. Certainly, many of these attacks are indiscriminate and thus affect not just all members of the public, but also all the emergency services. For fire services in action, even in such situations, protecting oneself is the number one priority, which is why – fortunately – there mostly tend to be relatively few victims among emergency service personnel. As our responders never travel alone, I don't perceive a significantly higher risk to women in this instance. The greatest risk, and possibly the worst harm, is to those who have to wait longer for firefighters' help because of such assaults, and may not be rescued in time.

'3 Questions To' with Dr Sophie Preysing, Regional Director of the Maltese Cross in North Rhine Westphalia.

112RESCUE: In the ranking of charities and institutions for the greatest contribution to the common good, according to the Statista Research Department, the Maltese Cross comes top with a score of 5.1 (1=low contribution, 6=high contribution). How much of this is due to the female staff within your organisation? Would you like to see more women in the organisation?

Dr Sophie Preysing: I don't think we can make a proportional assessment here, but it is certain that more and more women are involved in the Maltese Cross on a full-time and voluntary basis and are having a lasting favourable impact on our corporate culture. But in general I’d like to see even more women discovering the Maltese Cross as a professional home or finding a voluntary position that suits them.

112RESCUE: What employment and career opportunities are available to women in the rescue service? Is there – as in many other sectors – a 'glass ceiling' in the rescue service that makes it difficult for highly qualified women to move to higher-up positions? What about the recognition from their male colleagues in general?

Dr Sophie Preysing: As a matter of principle, all career opportunities in our rescue service are open to women, and more and more women are making use of this, which I find very encouraging. This glass ceiling you mention certainly existed and still exists in the emergency service system, but it is becoming fragile. There are, of course, as in almost all areas of society, certain obstacles to women in leadership positions, but we want to overcome them and empower women overall.

112RESCUE: Empathy, attention to detail, mental stability and a good physical constitution are all qualities that people in the rescue service should have, but these are by no means a male preserve. What can women perhaps do even better?

Dr Sophie Preysing: These attributes sum it up very well. First of all, women are equal and don't need to be treated with kid gloves. Women usually have a de-escalating and calming effect in response situations. By the way, they also have a calming effect in the stations, contributing significantly to a better working atmosphere – that's something I'm hearing from my male managers in particular.

Become an exhibitor

Suppliers wishing to present their products and services at 112RESCUE to expert visitors from the fire and rescue services, ambulance services and disaster control already have available all the information necessary to book their stand.