Historical Note
The Office for Women's Rights, an agency of the Executive Department,
was established in 1973. Prior to 1973, the Women’s Division was a separate
office within the Office of Human Resources, serving as staff support for the
Seattle Women’s Commission. The Office developed and coordinated programs to
promote equal opportunity for women and sexual minorities. The office was
abolished in 1997, and its responsibilities were assumed by the Office for
Civil Rights.
In 1975, Seattle Mayor Wes Uhlman and the City Council ordered the
Seattle Fire Department to begin hiring women as firefighters. Seattle
Personnel/Civil Service, the Fire Department, and the International Association
of Firefighters began recruiting women and minorities for firefighting work.
However, of 45 women who applied, only nine were able to pass the physical
examination, and none of the seven who entered the recruit class completed the
program. Physical ability and mechanical ability were cited as "deficiencies"
that made completion of the training difficult for women recruits. Personnel
and Civil Service created a Pre-Recruit Firefighter Program which would involve
both physical training and mechanical education; the program, beginning in
January 1977, was intended to prepare women recruits for further training as
firefighters.
The Fire Department administered the program, while Personnel and Civil
Service provided support. Dr. T. Lee Doolittle of the University of Washington
prepared a physical training program; training took place at YMCA facilities
and was supervised by YMCA staff. Covered in the mechanical section of the
program were plumbing, electricity, and lumber, as well as hoses, ropes and
knots, and ladders. Two of the three women who enrolled in the initial
pre-recruit training program resigned; the remaining recruit, Bonnie Beers,
completed the program in 1977. Beers went on to complete recruit training and
became Seattle's first woman firefighter; she became a lieutenant in 1981 and a
Battalion Chief in 1996.
Throughout 1977 and 1978, recruitment of women continued and the
pre-recruit program was further refined and developed.
Content Description
Records relate to monitoring of the Seattle Fire Department's
pre-recruit training program for prospective women fire fighters. Also included
are regulations, procedures, and overviews of training sessions; background
material on SFD/women relations; copies of the Doolittle Reports on strength
and endurance training; appeals from rejected women recruits; evaluations of
women pre-recruits; and files related to the SFD's recruiting practices and
apprenticeship programs. Seattle Fire Fighters' Pension Board Minutes are also
included in the records.