Number of women in fire services no longer growing

There were 1,571 women firefighters in the Netherlands on 1 January 2009. One year previously there were still 1,586. It is first time since 2000 that the number of female firefighters did not increase. The number of male firefighters has been falling for a longer period. Just over four-fifths of firefighters are of volunteers.

The number of firemen fell by an average 0.5 percent per year in the period 2000-2009, while the number of female firefighters doubled in the same period. In 2000 less than 3 percent of all firefighters were women, by 2009 this rose to nearly 6 percent.

The recent fall in the number of fire services operatives may be connected with the increasing regionalisation of the fire services. In addition, the branch reports higher quality demands for volunteers, and a trend that employers are less willing to release volunteers.

Male and female firefighters, 1 January

Raymond Kleingeld