Throughout the first 112 years of its existence, the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) had little need for the gender neutral term “firefighter.” The department accepted only firemen and barred fully qualified women from serving until 1977.
Today, women make up less than 2% of the FDNY’s 11,000-person workforce, compared to 9% nationwide and roughly 15% in other major cities like San Francisco. A gender gap is expected, and not inherently unjust, because of the physical demands of firefighting and the biological differences between sexes. However, New York’s strikingly lower representation reflects a long history of gender discrimination within the FDNY and society. From the city’s first few female firefighters to the 165 serving today, these women fight flames while battling gender stereotypes.
PART 1: INITIAL SPARKS
Margaret Moffatt retired in 2013 as the longest-serving female firefighter in the FDNY. But when she first applied thirty-one years before, she had doubts about joining.
By 1977, Moffatt was working at a hospital and had already taken every civil service exam that New York City offered. When the FDNY expanded eligibility, allowing women to join, she was one year younger than the age limit. “I thought, ‘Hmm, what the heck,’” she said, as we spoke over the phone. “I filled out the application, but I wasn’t super serious about it.”
Admission to the FDNY requires two components: written and physical. Moffatt passed the written exam along with 389 out of 410 total female applicants. Upon seeing the criteria for the physical exam, however, she rescinded her application. Only 90 women continued and took the physical exam. All of them failed.
That’s because the FDNY designed the physical exam to exclude women, not to fairly assess their athletic capabilities. The test was significantly harder than the version given to men in previous years, and it evaluated skills that did not accurately reflect the experience of a firefighter, such as climbing an eight-foot wall.
“I just decided, I’m not going to be in the fire department. I’m not going to pursue this,” Moffatt said. Brenda Berkman, another applicant in her third year of law school, decided to instead appeal the results in court.
Five years later, the court ruled in her favor with the case Brenda Berkman, et al v. The City of New York (1982). The FDNY created a new, fair test and invited back the original applicants to retake it. This time, 41 women passed, including Moffatt and Berkman.
The FDNY assigned each woman to a different firehouse across the five boroughs. Surrounded exclusively by male colleagues, every member of the ‘Original 41’ experienced different gradations of gender discrimination. Berkman was especially targeted because of her legal action against the FDNY and her vocal determination for women’s rights.
“The stuff that happened in my first ten years going into my career at the fire department was extremely nasty,” Berkman said in an interview with Life Stories. “[There was] everything from pornography being sent to my home address, to people following me around the streets, to death threats telephoned to my home telephone number, to really severe harassment in the Fire Academy and in the firehouse. And also, I got fired.”
Berkman sued and rejoined the FDNY a year later, but the mistreatment continued. Though life at a firehouse is meant to center around team comradery, her male colleagues refused to let her eat with them at meals. Some tampered with her protective equipment, hiding dead rats in coat pockets or peeing in her boots.
Moffatt, on the other hand, was fortunate to find a welcoming environment at her first firehouse in Corona, Queens. “They sent me to a really good firehouse with a very decent captain who accepted me. He ran a very tight ship. He wouldn’t let anybody bother me or harass me,” she said.
Moffat and Berkman’s experiences reflect two opposite examples of how men reacted to the integration of women. Just as important, however, is how these women perceived themselves in this new role – and how their feelings and self-confidence evolved over time.
PART 2: CATCHING AFLAME
The day that Moffatt almost died was the day that she fully embraced her identity as a firefighter.
“That day it was windy as heck. It was freezing. It was February. I was like, man, if we get anything today, it’s not going to be good because of the wind. And sure enough, we got a fire in Lefrak City.”
A closer fire company had arrived at the scene, and Moffatt’s station was called as backup. Since the first company was already occupied rescuing bodies from the building, Moffatt and her team were responsible for putting out the fire. Flames poured out of windows and searing heat radiated across the air. Moffatt had never experienced a fire as fierce as this one before, and as the nozzleman – responsible for holding the front of the hose – she would be the first to enter it.
“It was so intense that my officer didn’t even know which way to go when we opened up the door,” Moffatt said. “We kept going down the hallway, going, going, going. Finally, I saw an outline of the fire at the fire door.”
Moffatt’s team blasted the flames with the hose. She stood her ground until she realized that her air tank was expiring. She passed the hose to someone behind her and began to blindly crawl away. “I thought I had no air, and I’m breathing in all that smoke and everything. I thought, God, I’m not going to make it… The next thing I know, I feel someone pulling my collar and pulling me out of the hallway.”
Moffat escaped to the floor below, where she and a few others recovered before heading back. Only the ceiling separated her from the raging fire.
Afterwards, the local newspaper Newsday featured an article about the fire that highlighted Moffatt’s bravery. “That really helped me. I remember the guys saying after that, ‘Well, I guess a woman can do this job,’” Moffatt said.
Reflecting back, Moffatt also recalled the anxiety she had originally felt when facing a huge fire with little experience as a nozzleman. These sentiments were shared by a male colleague, who, in the moment, almost offered to do the job for her instead.
“But then he said, ‘She gets paid the same amount as me, let her do it.’ And I’m so glad, because I thought to myself, if I hand this hose over, I will never be able to face them again.” She paused. “I’d rather die than do that. So that solidified me into being a real firefighter.”
Over the following years, Moffatt progressed in her career. In 1992, she and a close friend Joann Jacobs were the first women to become Fire Marshalls. Her new responsibilities involved investigating arson outside of her home borough of Queens. “I would show up at a fire, and sometimes they’d say, ‘What are you, the Red Cross lady?’” she recounted, laughing. As she built esteem among officers and her reputation grew, however, people began to treat her with well-deserved respect.
Moffatt also wrote three civil service exams for different positions within the FDNY, including Supervisor. “The funny thing is that years earlier, I wouldn’t have even been allowed to take an exam, let alone write an exam,” she said. Moffatt prided herself in creating tests that were fair and impartial.
Throughout Moffatt’s record-long career in the FDNY, she witnessed a shift from barring all women to entrusting those such as herself with authority. However, many young women today are still unaware that firefighting is an available career. In the years since Moffatt’s retirement in 2013, the FDNY has worked to expand awareness and recognize female firefighters as equals to men.
PART 3: A BLAZING FUTURE
A firefighter in full protective gear wears a fire-resistant hood, a plastic helmet with a visor, a face mask connecting to an air supply tank, thick gloves, sturdy boots, and a set of bunker pants and coat. Underneath these identical full-body coverings, it is nearly impossible to distinguish the gender of the first responder. Instead, their uniform redefines them through a common mission: to risk their lives in order to save others.
Firefighting demands physical labor and a selfless mentality. It’s not a fitting job for most men or women, but some, like Moffatt, feel compelled to serve their community through the FDNY. “It’s something I would have done for free, in a way,” Moffatt reflected. “You’re helping people in desperate situations. I liked that.” Gender should not be a barrier or deterrent for fully qualified women wishing to follow in Moffatt’s footsteps.
Recently, there has been an effort to highlight and help female firefighters. Since joining the FDNY in 2006, Jackie-Michelle Martinez built up a support system for women applicants and firefighters, connecting them to mentorship and training programs. In 2015, she became the FDNY’s first Women’s Outreach Coordinator.
“If you were never exposed to something, how are you going to know if you want it or not?” Martinez said in an interview. She realized that many people incorrectly believe the FDNY is only for men. After Martinez visited local high schools and colleges to introduce young women to firefighting, the percentage of female applicants increased significantly.
Cortez Pagan ’25, a member of the Bronx Science Gender Equity Board, referred to this lack of societal representation as “a self-fulfilling prophecy.” Within Bronx Science, she noticed a similar theme: an absence of female role models discouraged some girls from pursuing certain careers or areas of interest. “It is utterly essential to create spaces that are inclusive of all genders,” Pagan observed. “Major gender inequalities that arise in the workforce create a cycle of women feeling unwelcome and, therefore, resistant to join.”
Brenda Berkman, who retired in 2006 with the rank of Captain, continues to be an outspoken advocate for gender equality. She was featured in a 2006 PBS documentary about female firefighters, pushed for women’s efforts on 9/11 to be recognized as much as men’s, and published a picture book about her life story.
The FDNY still has much progress to make, and its lack of racial diversity is another common criticism. However, thanks to the work of Brenda Berkman, Margaret Moffatt, and other members of the ‘Original 41,’ it’s becoming easier for interested and qualified young women to join without societal stigma. Regardless of gender, all members of the FDNY possess the desire and ability to serve and protect, proudly embodying the department’s motto, “New York’s Bravest.”
From the city’s first few female firefighters to the 165 serving today, these women fight flames while battling gender stereotypes.