PBS News Hour March 2- Interviews on Sexual Harassment in the Forest Service

Thanks to a member of the journalism community for sharing this location of the Youtube link to this story..18 minutes in they start talking about the Forest Service. My pet peeve about this coverage is it seems to equate “women in the Forest Service” with “women in Fire”. They mention women from other agencies, but then go back to the Forest Service. Gosh, there are plenty of other things that the FS does besides fight fire. I wonder if the more “Fire Service-y” the FS gets, the more macho culture and relative absence of women will become the face of the FS? Also, as we’ve discussed here, there is a context with other organizations such as the military who have been dealing with the same problem. It’s interesting to think about how the coverage of “the worst agencies and military organizations for sexual harassment” would look like. How much variation is there among agencies who have the same “outdoor, macho, far from other people” kind of work? Trail crews also use chain saws and axes..

2 thoughts on “PBS News Hour March 2- Interviews on Sexual Harassment in the Forest Service”

  1. I am a male USFS employee in a fire position. Women are absolutely as capable as men on the fireline. I have seen it so often that it is not even a consideration. I shouldn’t have to feel I need to say that. I no longer understand this agency. I am closing in on retirement and beginning to wonder what I have been working for if this where we are at in 2018. As a supervisor I have not had to deal with documenting an issue of sexual harassment but have tried to get OWCP and other similar type things through on employees behalf. The level of suspicion and bureaucracy that occurs when you try to negotiate these systems is crushing and usually ineffective multiple times. You never get the same answer twice and trying to keep on top of your case while performing your regular duties is frustrating. I feel terrible for the people who trusted the agency and went through the proper channels only to be ignored and doubted.

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