'Chicago Fire' Season 8 Episode 6: Why the women's lounge plotline should have been tackled in a different way on the show
In this week's episode of 'Chicago Fire', the three women of Firehouse 51, paramedics Sylvie Brett and Emily Foster, and firefighter Stella Kidd read about a firehouse in California starting a women-only lounge and are inspired to do the same at 51.
The men of the firehouse are, of course, immediately against it, as is Chief Boden, but he reluctantly gives the women permission to start the lounge. Brett, Kidd, and Foster excitedly redecorate the room allotted to them.
Then, women from other firehouses start showing up and the women of 51 happily welcome them. However, instead of using this space for what it's meant to be, the women smoke in the room and thrash the place. Finally, Kidd admits it was a mistake and asks Boden to shut it down.
This was certainly one way to end the storyline, but it feels like it was the wrong path to follow. The fire department has been plagued by allegations of sexism -- and a women's only lounge could be treated as a safe space, rather than a place for them to let loose in an unscrupulous manner.
It is especially relevant for a show set in Chicago where the fire department has been subject to multiple lawsuits alleging race and sex discrimination in its hiring practices. Nationally, only 4% of firefighters are female, whereas the statistic is closer to 14% for the police and military.
With the women's lounge storyline, the writers had a great way of showing how the fire department could strive to be more inclusive. What the writers intended was to show that Brett, Kidd, and Foster did not need a separate space in the firehouse where everyone is considered family -- but that is not often the case.
In real life, there have been many allegations of sexual harassment towards female firefighters and not every firehouse could be as close or as moral as the firehouse that is the focus of 'Chicago Fire'.
'Chicago Fire' airs on NBC on Wednesday nights.