Book Spotlights Firewoman's Battles; 'Sisters in the Brotherhood'
By ARI PAUL
Retired Fire Capt. Brenda Berkman, one of the original city female firefighters 26 years ago, appears on the cover of a new book about women struggling for equality in non-traditional professions.

The Chief-Leader/Pat Arnow SISTER TO SISTER: A new book by Jane LaTour (left) chronicles how women broke the gender barriers in various professions, including retired Fire Capt. Brenda Berkman, who joined the FDNY, causing what Ms. LaTour last week called 'a firestorm of protest and resistance.'

She contended that while many writers have explored how women have battled sexism in trying to gain employment in trades dominated by men, Jane LaTour's "Sisters in the Brotherhood," released this month by Palgrave, took a different approach.

'It Had to Get Better'

"It's certainly the first time that people have written about the relationship of women with their unions," Ms. Berkman said during a book release party Sept. 16 at the Tamiment Library on labor at New York University.

As of now, there are slightly more than two dozen female firefighters in an FDNY force of 11,000.

"It's obviously better, because it was so horrible when it started, it had to get better," said Ms. Berkman, who retired in 2006. "Jane talks about this in her book. Unfortunately, young women still don't view it as an opportunity, and I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that they don't see women on the fire trucks."

Ms. LaTour, a labor activist with the Women's Project of the Association for Union Democracy, outlines the stories of women in various male-dominated professions and unions, including Eileen Sullivan's struggle as a truck driver in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and women working as carpenters, plumbers and other building trades jobs.

"The entrance of women into the Fire Department set off a firestorm of protest and resistance," Ms. LaTour said of the chapter about female firefighters.

Ms. Berkman declined to speak about her experience in the FDNY; she entered the force after winning a Federal sex discrimination lawsuit and faced harassment from the time she began training in the Fire Academy. The former Captain instead pointed to what she believed was a more-pressing issue.

"The really sad thing is that young women today are growing up with no greater awareness — maybe even less awareness — of the opportunities in these terrific jobs, because I think to some degree there's this feeling that it's been done," Ms. Berkman said. "It hasn't been done. If you look at the numbers, it's really the case that women barely have a toehold in these jobs."