Recognizing Women Leaders in Fire Science: Revisited

Abstract

In August, 2018, an editorial in Fire entitled Recognizing Women Leaders in Fire Science was published. This was intended to ignite a conversation into diversity in fire science by highlighting several women leaders in fire research and development. This editorial was released alongside a new Topical Collection in Fire called Diversity Leaders in Fire Science. The response on social media was fantastic, leading to numerous recommendations of women leaders in fire science that had been inadvertently missed in the first editorial. In this editorial, we acknowledge 145 women leaders in fire science to promote diversity across our disciplines. Fire is continually committed to improving diversity and inclusion in all aspects of the journal and welcomes perspectives, viewpoints, and constructive criticisms to help advance that mission.

Socio-Ecological Perceptions of Wildfire Management and Effects in Greece

“…We identified a few limitations of our study, including the relatively small sample size, the under-representation of women, the low participation of people working for the Forest Service, and the uneven representation of the population of southern Greece (underrepresentation) and islands (over-representation). The under-representation of women may be explained by the lower number of female firefighters in the Greek Fire Service and their lower level of involvement in wildfire-related studies in research organizations and universities [34]. Although the questionnaire was distributed across all fire-related agencies and organizations of Greece, the increased response rate from northern Greece and the islands might be independent or random due to pure geography or biases through personal connections with the University of the Aegean that coordinated this study.…”

Living With Fire and the Need for Diversity

“…As argued by Bowman and Stoof (2019), social diversity (including diversity in cultural background and gender) is essential for achieving this. Fire science is a field where women are traditionally underrepresented (Smith & Strand, 2018). Achieving gender equity is directly relevant for how fire management is approached.…”

Addressing Gender Inequities in Forest Science and Research

“…The XXV IUFRO world congress in Curitiba, Brazil, in September-October 2019 had a number of sessions focused on gender equality and keynote speakers included an excellent balance of different genders, ethnicities, career stages and expertise [6]. Similarly, Smith et al's recognition of women leaders in Fire Science [32,33] was well-received on social media and more broadly as an opportunity to celebrate diverse contributions to research on fire. We acknowledge the importance of role-models as sources of inspiration and hope.…”