Women’s Sensibilities: Leading Emergency Responders To A New Tomorrow
My profession of security and life safety is falling short; many of the people we serve are not happy with how law enforcement and other emergency responders are interacting with them. We need a new model if we are to expect different results. Imagine a time where police, fire, and medical responders are welcomed everywhere not only as true heroes, but also as true friends – especially in our seriously economically challenged neighborhoods. Emergency Responders working together with local schools could fill many gaps. If they were perceived as true friends, and as a positive force in community building they would be able to inspire new levels of citizen responsibility, self-worth and success.
What is missing is a large measure of women’s sensibilities; People need to be seen, heard and validated. With a more gender-balanced and smarter policing program that is in tune with the school programs, our children would grow to become role models for their children in their turn, and within a few generations life would be so much better for everyone. Countries around the world would then take our successful example and evolve in all the ways we would love to see happen. Women’s sensibilities are what’s missing as we have let men alone be in charge of security and life safety in today’s very different world. It is time for evolving our workplace by welcoming women as true partners.
Today we are faced with a failing model of security and law enforcement because we continue to follow a male centric model which is outdated. Unfortunately we are fighting thousands of years of unconscious bias against women in the workplace. The solution is not simply to have women in a manmade workplace; environment matters. The workplace needs to be female friendly. Today’s workplace is male centric in both attitude and esthetics; this is a major reason why women are still not breaking through and standing side by side in jobs and earnings with men. Men need to be more aware of these issues and must be the champions of change. We need women’s point of view, genius and hand in all of our social and work-life models.
For deeper insight into our deep rooted gender bias. Watch this video from Webstock ’15: of Janet Crawford called “The Surprising Neuroscience of Gender Inequality”, it is possibly the most important thirty-three minutes you can invest in both yourself and your world. We need to overcome gender bias and it is men who really need to step up to this plate. Our voice is the key.
I have seen first-hand through my recent university studies in which half the class is women yet the curriculum is still totally male centric. Schools and universities must revise their curriculum to be gender neutral at worst and female friendly at best. We all need to step outside of our comfort zones if our goal to insure humanity’s healthy survival is to be realized. It’s a tall order and it will not be easy in the beginning, but with first steps typically comes success. Success inspires more steps and soon it will be easy, and the results will amaze.
Felix has 40+ years in the life-safety, electronic, and physical security arenas. Additionally, he specializes in business continuity program development and program management. He serves a full spectrum of clients from residential through Fortune 100 companies, and serves as an expert witness in these areas. He is on the Board of Directors serving as Vice-Chair for ASIS International’s Southern Connecticut Chapter, and an active member of the National Eagle Scout Association. Felix is an ASIS International Board Certified CPP, holds an engineering degree in fire protection systems. More importantly he is a father of two daughters, a son, and two grandsons and wishes that their world will be better for his efforts.
