NARRATOR: In 1982, 40 women became
the first female firefighters in New York City history.
But it didn't happen without a fight led by one woman.
When I was growing up in the 1950s,
I did not think it was possible for girls and women
to become firefighters.
Little girls were not expected to grow up to be anything
other than wives and mommies.
You could be a teacher.
You could be a nurse.
You could be a secretary.
That didn't appeal to me at all.
I want to do things that little boys
could do when they grew up.
But, you know, best-laid plans.
NARRATOR: After studying history in college and graduate school,
Berkman attended law school at NYU.
While I was in law school, a couple of things happened.
One was I learned that it's really hard to use
the law for social justice.
Then also I really started to question the idea that I was
going to be in an occupation where I
sat behind a desk all day long.
Then I met some New York City fire officers,
and that's when I discovered how great the job of firefighting
was.
So I thought, I think I'll give it a shot.
I also didn't realize that the New York City Fire Department
had never accepted an application
from a woman for the entry exam for firefighting.
That changed in 1977.
For the first time, women were allowed to apply,
and I applied.
You had to pass two tests.
One was a written test, which was multiple choice,
and you had to pass a physical abilities test, which consisted
of a whole number of events.
NARRATOR: Events like climbing over an eight-foot wall
and carrying a 120-pound duffel bag over a shoulder
up three flights of stairs and back down again.
The physical portion of the firefighter exam
wasn't just unfair.
It was illegal because it didn't test for the abilities
actually needed to be trained to perform
the job of firefighting.
And so I went I talked to Laura Sager at NYU Law School,
and I explained what had happened.
I said, I don't think this test is job related.
NARRATOR: So Berkman, Laura Sager, and Congresswoman Bella
Abzug went to the head of personnel
at the New York City Fire Department.
And we say to them, just develop a job-related test.
And basically the head of personnel
said to us he wasn't going to change the test,
and if I didn't like it, he'd see me in court.
So I sued.
NARRATOR: The lawsuit went on for years until finally in 1982
Brenda, along with 40 other women,
were allowed into the training academy.
But because of the animosity towards the women, instructors
who had a personal vendetta against women
being firefighters were allowed pretty much
free reign to do whatever they want to try and make the women
quit.
They gave us carbon monoxide poisoning
and, you know, tools were dropped on us.
They had not prepared us with gear that fit.
So women with smaller feet were having
their boots fall off as they were attempting
to climb the aerial ladder.
We didn't have gloves that fit.
That meant that it was really hard to hold on
to tools and hose lines and other kinds of things
that we needed to do.
And was amazing to me was that very few of that original group
of women quit.
They just hung in there.
And they were being harassed not only by the instructors
but by their fellow trainees, the guys.
NARRATOR: The women who graduated from the fire academy
were assigned to firehouses.
New York finally had its first group of women firefighters.
But despite overcoming great challenges,
women still faced adversity and discrimination
in the firehouse.
There was a lot of overt hostility and even dangerous
threatening actions to women firefighters.
Draining of the air tanks--
so when you went into the fire you'd turn on your air tank,
and all of a sudden you'd discover
that there was no air in it.
Women were threatened with being pushed off a roof.
They were sexually assaulted.
They were beat up at a company picnic.
We did speak out.
We learned that, you know, the judge can't be with us
in the firehouse for 24 hours a day,
that the problems of integrating women into the department
are not going to disappear overnight,
but things have definitely gotten better.
I think it's so important that younger women know
this history, that they realize that the opportunities
that they have today didn't just sort
of, like, get handed to them.
We only came through all those bad times
because good people refused to be silent,
and they took action.
We can do this, but we have to work.
We can't leave it to other people to do.
We have to stand up and do it ourselves.