Office of Women's Rights Women Firefighters Project Records, 1974-1980

The Office for Women's Rights, an agency of the Executive Department, was established in 1973. Prior to 1973, the Women’s Division was a separate office within the Office of Human Resources, serving as staff support for the Seattle Women’s Commission. The Office developed and coordinated programs to promote equal opportunity for women and sexual minorities. The office was abolished in 1997, and its responsibilities were assumed by the Office for Civil Rights.

In 1975, Seattle Mayor Wes Uhlman and the City Council ordered the Seattle Fire Department to begin hiring women as firefighters. Seattle Personnel/Civil Service, the Fire Department, and the International Association of Firefighters began recruiting women and minorities for firefighting work. However, of 45 women who applied, only nine were able to pass the physical examination, and none of the seven who entered the recruit class completed the program. Physical ability and mechanical ability were cited as "deficiencies" that made completion of the training difficult for women recruits. Personnel and Civil Service created a Pre-Recruit Firefighter Program which would involve both physical training and mechanical education; the program, beginning in January 1977, was intended to prepare women recruits for further training as firefighters.

The Fire Department administered the program, while Personnel and Civil Service provided support. Dr. T. Lee Doolittle of the University of Washington prepared a physical training program; training took place at YMCA facilities and was supervised by YMCA staff. Covered in the mechanical section of the program were plumbing, electricity, and lumber, as well as hoses, ropes and knots, and ladders. Two of the three women who enrolled in the initial pre-recruit training program resigned; the remaining recruit, Bonnie Beers, completed the program in 1977. Beers went on to complete recruit training and became Seattle's first woman firefighter; she became a lieutenant in 1981 and a Battalion Chief in 1996.

Throughout 1977 and 1978, recruitment of women continued and the pre-recruit program was further refined and developed.