Playing With Fire Gender At Work Analysis

Article Critique

Meas Danok

214707772

Yuli Maleta is the author of this paper; the article is astutely titled Playing with Fire Gender at Work and the Australian Female Cultural Experience Within Rural Fire Fighting. Maleta asks the question: What are the gendered and cultural experiences of female emergency services volunteers, specifically fire fighters, within a regional brigade of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service? The research question is clearly stated early in the article, and it follows a logical follow. However, the quality of the statements and the conclusion are fairly week. An analysis and description of the study will be discussed in this paper.

Literature Review

There is no defined literature review section in this article;

Malata draws upon the shared lived phenomenon of the participants as female RFS volunteers to understand their experiences and motivations. This was done through interviews that gathered descriptions of the participants’ experiences. However, Malata does not state how the how the themes emerged so the thematic analysis may not have followed a phenomenological approach. For the framework, Malata draws upon Foucault’s concept of power and gender being productive and relational. The study focuses on gender and explores the experiences of women within a male-dominated field, gendered power dynamics, and female agency. Thus, while Malata does not mention any other framework, the nature of the research aligns with a feminist theoretical approach. She also states that her research may have implications for social policy reforms that could increase participation of females in fire fighting. The transformative aspect of the research further aligns with the feminist theory framework. However, there was a lack of reflexivity as she neglected to state how her biases may have impacted her research. The other philosophical assumptions of the study are not stated, though they can be derived from the research

Within these sections, various themes were discussed but there was often overlap between the sections. Since the themes were not explicitly stated we chose to focus on those that arose most frequently. The first theme explored is gender, power and competence, which looked at traditional male roles defined by physical strength, leadership and technical skill. One of the participants, Janeanne, demonstrated competence but undermined her capabilities even though she held a position of leadership (Maleta, 2009, p. 5). Inclusivity and exclusivity also came up often, focusing on the teamwork and community within fire fighting and how there were elements of exclusion even when the women were being included. Karen mentioned “the boys” do not swear around her, while Vanessa told the guys not to treat her as a woman so she could be one of them (Maleta, 2009, pp. 11-12). Both of these are efforts for the women to be included but the first illustrates the woman is still being treated differently and the second shows she has to renounce her identity as a woman to be accepted. Lastly, in regards to sense of self and agency, the women are motivated to join fire fighting due to comradery and the protection of their community. Additionally, taking on a volunteer position allows them to