The wildfire within: Gender, leadership and wildland fire culture

Reimer, Rachel; Eriksen, Christine (2018). The wildfire within: Gender, leadership and wildland fire culture. International journal of wildland fire, 27(11), p. 715. CSIRO Publishing 10.1071/WF17150

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This article examines findings from a 2016 study on gender and leadership within the British Columbia Wildfire Service (BCWS), Canada. The study utilised action research to facilitate an in-depth conversation among wildland firefighters about gender and leadership, and to explore participant-derived actions steps within the BCWS towards a perceived ideal future(s). The study found widespread occurrences of gender discrimination in the day-to-day practice of leadership, and that gender made a difference for wildland firefighters’ experiences of normative workplace culture. In their practice of leadership, participants described a trade-off between gender diversity and excellence. The article concludes that the practice of leadership within wildland fire must include open dialogue about, and strategic engagement with, gendered cultural norms within the workplace in order to dispel myths and latent beliefs, and support what firefighters in this study defined as ‘excellent leadership’.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography

UniBE Contributor:

Eriksen, Christine

Subjects:

900 History > 910 Geography & travel

ISSN:

1049-8001

Publisher:

CSIRO Publishing

Language:

English

Submitter:

Christine Eriksen

Date Deposited:

04 Sep 2023 12:10

Last Modified:

29 Oct 2023 02:22

Publisher DOI:

10.1071/WF17150

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/185834

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/185834

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