Lt. Rebecca Zentmyer is the only professional female firefighter in Reading.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s been the lone woman since she started in 2017 \u2014 through her training and during her union\u2019s discussion of the need for a maternity leave policy.<\/p>\n
As a former Marine, she connected with other former service members in her fire company and appreciated her commanding officers treating her no differently from other rookies.<\/p>\n
She didn\u2019t realize the advice and camaraderie that other women in the profession experience until she attended a seminar for female firefighters a few years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t know what you don\u2019t have until you see other people that had it,\u201d she said in a recent interview.<\/p>\n
The Reading Fire Department employs 95 men and one woman to extinguish fires. That\u2019s the largest gap between men and women city employees, according to a Spotlight PA analysis of 2026 salary data. Gender discrepancies persist across emergency services, though most are not as stark as in the fire department. Women make up 9% of police patrol officers and 22% of non-firefighter paramedics, compared to 34% of general city workers.<\/p>\n
Reading\u2019s highest-ranking women in the police and fire departments, and two outside experts, all independently agreed that the city should not specifically recruit women to fix the gap. The goal, they argued, should be to expand the applicant pool to more accurately represent the community \u2014 especially as emergency services face declining general recruitment nationwide.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome people assume that we\u2019re trying to push men out,\u201d said Tanya Meisenholder, director of police research with the\u00a0New York University Law School Policing Project<\/a>. \u201cThat\u2019s not what we\u2019re trying to do at all. What we\u2019re trying to say is that you have this whole other pool of people that might be interested in a career in policing when most agencies across the U.S. are experiencing challenges with recruitment and retention.\u201d<\/p>\n Reading has taken some steps in recent years to increase the city\u2019s general applicant pool, including hiring a designated recruiter, a move City Manager Jack Gombach said has helped diversify the overall city workforce.<\/p>\n However, Reading lacks policies that outside researchers agree would most significantly impact retention of women professionals: family leave, internal mentorship programs, and child care options.<\/p>\n Benefits of the policies extend to all employees, not just women, said Meisenholder, a former New York City police officer. She works with the\u00a030\u00d730 project,<\/a>\u00a0an initiative that aims to help policing agencies reach 30% women representation in police recruitment classes by 2030. At least 10 Pennsylvania departments are\u00a0members<\/a>, including Lancaster and Philadelphia.<\/p>\n If departments don\u2019t reach 30%, they are encouraged to analyze why their agencies are not attracting a wider array of applicants, Meisenholder said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe last thing I would want is to encourage a woman to go to a police department where it\u2019s not healthy for her, or where they don\u2019t accept women,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, putting aside the 30%, what we asked them to do is engage with their officers and think about what challenges they\u2019re facing.\u201d<\/p>\n Corinne Bendersky,<\/a>\u00a0a UCLA professor who studies workplaces, said women represent approximately 4% of professional firefighters nationally \u2014 a smaller number than the estimated 8% of women in the Marines, which has the smallest representation of women in any U.S. military branch. The highest percentage of women Bendersky knew of in any one professional fire department in the U.S. was 6%.<\/p>\n Police departments have a higher percentage of female officers, but the largest representation of women is among civilian workers (such as 911 dispatchers, record keepers, and assistants), Meisenholder said. In Reading, these workers are primarily classified under the police department\u2019s special services division.<\/p>\n Meisenholder told Spotlight PA that around 14% of U.S. police officers are women, but local averages depend on the type of agency. Of approximately 18,000 police departments across the country, for example, around 40% have no women in the ranks, largely because they are in rural areas with few employees.<\/p>\n Women offer benefits to their departments, despite being few in number, Meinsenholder said. Female police officers statistically have lower rates of using excessive force, being named in lawsuits, and making fewer discretionary arrests, according to research from 30\u00d730.<\/p>\n Fire departments specifically will \u201cnever be 50\/50\u201d in gender representation, but women bring different skills and add a \u201ctool to the toolkit,\u201d Bendersky said. As emergency responders, firefighters may be the first to the scene in cases of domestic violence, she said, and survivors may be more comfortable with female medical professionals.<\/p>\n \u201cWe as a public are actually suffering for the low representation of women in the fire service,\u201d Bendersky said.<\/p>\n Change has been slow in emergency service departments, Meisenholder told Spotlight PA. Many women fall out of the application process for both police and fire departments during the entry fitness exams, according to both Meisenholder and Bendersky.<\/p>\n The tests, the researchers agreed, are just as important to the culture of the departments as to the actual duties of police and fire officers. However, it is important to consider what aspects of the exams are still relevant to the job and where technology has changed day-to-day requirements, they said. Separating paramedics and firefighters, for example, as Reading has done, helps bring in more types of workers, according to Bendersky.<\/p>\n Deputy Chief Luz Shade, the highest-ranking female officer in the Reading Police Department, agreed, noting an example of a short-lived portion of the fitness exam: the ability of the applicant to jump about six inches higher than their tallest reach.<\/p>\n The department ensures trainees meet the state\u2019s minimum requirements, and enforces a number of its own. Some of those additional requirements greatly serve the officers, such as being able to shoot at night, but others, like the jump, have not served a clear-cut purpose, Shade said.<\/p>\n The department rescinded the jumping test after a higher-ranking agency stopped requiring it, Shade said. The test did not serve a specific purpose, and needlessly came more naturally for certain recruits, she argued.<\/p>\n She and Zentmyer said fitness exams are also a test of mental agility.<\/p>\n \u201cIf there\u2019s a test put in front of me \u2026 and this is called, \u2018You have to survive, and you got to get this done,\u2019 I\u2019m gonna get it done,\u201d Shade said.<\/p>\n New technologies, such as lighter ladders, would be welcome in the fire department. Adjusting the physical standards would not be, Zentmyer said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the physical agility test was lowered to allow more people in, that would be the complaint,\u201d Zentmyer told Spotlight PA. \u201cThe initial testing phase of your ability to endure, it\u2019s not just strength. It\u2019s a mental block more than anything.\u201d<\/p>\n How can agencies retain more women?<\/p>\n Shade\u2019s experience in the police department has incrementally changed as she moved up the ranks, she said.<\/p>\n She sees fewer women at the leadership conferences she attends. She heard rumors about herself when she was first promoted, alleging she may have bypassed tests to earn her place \u2014 a falsity, as she had to pass the same civil service exams as her male coworkers.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re a patrol officer, you\u2019re just out there doing your job,\u201d Shade said. \u201cYou\u2019re not in anyone\u2019s eyes or ears. As you start moving up the ranks, then you\u2019re noticed, and then everything\u2019s scrutinized. Good or bad, the spotlight is on you.\u201d<\/p>\n Women are less represented in emergency service leadership positions, Meisenholder said, so getting them through the door is not the final goal. Departments also have to consider how to retain them.<\/p>\n Ensuring safety equipment can properly fit women or making considerations for pregnancy and lactation can make a difference, she said. During her time in the NYPD, the department had a women\u2019s mentorship program that allowed officers to learn what was expected in each role and provided support as they moved up the ranks.<\/p>\n The 30\u00d730 project encourages agencies to collect data on where in their careers women tend to \u201cfall out\u201d of the job. She said many do not stay their full 20 years in the field because the schedule is unsustainable when they decide to start a family.<\/p>\n This makes family leave and child care important benefits for officers, Meisenholder said.<\/p>\n Few cities have child care options for employees, but national policing organizations are advocating for added options given the 24-hour nature of the job, Meisenholder said.<\/p>\n Reading does not offer child care for city employees, nor does it have its own paid parental leave policy. Pregnant workers and new parents instead use paid time off or sick leave, or register for the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.<\/p>\n Gombach, the city manager, said Reading wants to find ways to better support the family lives of emergency workers, especially as they look to recruit. The city has considered offering employees some form of child care, but is financially hindered in a way the private sector is not, he said.<\/p>\n However, he said the administration wants to start talking with the city\u2019s unions over the next year about potential family leave policies.<\/p>\n The city\u2019s union contracts have provisions that advise light duty for pregnant employees with a doctor\u2019s note, or alternatively, temporary sick leave for employees supporting their pregnant spouses. Eligible employees can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave through FMLA. They are required to use accrued vacation or sick time at the same time as their FMLA leave, according to the city\u2019s employee handbook.<\/p>\n FMLA protects a person\u2019s right to return to their job and has been a huge benefit to Reading employees, but more could be done to support officers, Shade and Zentmyer said. Zentmyer suggested the city could work to keep up with research from the International Association of Firefighters that studies which schedules offer the healthiest work-life balance for employees.<\/p>\n What ultimately matters is each employee\u2019s ability to get the job done, they agreed. Gender does not matter if she can accomplish the task, Zentmyer said, but she recognized that seeing more women in the fields would likely encourage others to try.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you have heart for these professions, it\u2019s doable,\u201d Shade said. \u201cIt may be somewhat more difficult, but it\u2019s definitely doable.\u201d<\/p>\n BEFORE YOU GO\u2026\u00a0If you learned something from this article, pay it forward and contribute to Spotlight PA at\u00a0spotlightpa.org\/donate<\/a>. Spotlight PA is funded by\u00a0foundations and readers like you<\/a>\u00a0who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gender gaps persist across Reading\u2019s emergency services, a Spotlight PA analysis of 2026 data shows. 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Reading Fire Department\u2019s 9th & Marion Station. Photo courtesy of Hanna Holthaus \/ Spotlight PAWhat keeps women from emergency services?<\/p>\n