Inhalt

Fellowship knows no gender

Category: Special Prize for Social Commitment

Fire department: Volunteer Fire Department Bassen, Lower Saxony (Germany)

Whether they are students, professionals, wives or mothers, the fire department can accommodate any woman. This is the message of the purely female team at the Volunteer Fire Department Bassen. From engineers to group leaders, all positions are held by women – with complete success, as they have already demonstrated in district competitions. Most recently, they took seventh place – only one place behind the male colleagues of their home fire department. The men founded their own team only after their female colleagues set an example.

The idea of uniting all women in the Volunteer Fire Department Bassen into a purely female team came about during an evening get-together. Since then, the diverse female crew – which ranges in age from 17 to 48 – meets regularly to practice. If they are too few in number, their male colleagues gladly help out. The team consists altogether of twelve colleagues. The first woman joined the Volunteer Fire Department over 20 years ago. In addition to specific team training sessions, the women participate alongside the men in general training, courses and of course, firefighting operations.

To reassure women who worry about the physical requirements of daily firefighting work, Imke Höge says: "Even though we don't have as much physical strength as the men, we have always accomplished all requirements of the competitions by working together. We want to encourage women to pursue their own interests, even if that means they might be the only woman at work on an evening or on a firefighting operation." Everyone can contribute his or her abilities to fire department work – the decisive thing is working together. Fire departments depend on cohesive teamwork – regardless of gender.