Firefighting is a pretty clear cut example of pitfalls of virtue signaling in fields that should clearly have exemptions due to physically demanding nature of the work.

However it also applies to other fields that may not be so obvious. The State of California famously suffered from a massive wildfire that was not effectively countered due to DEI hiring practices that prioritized diversity over saving human lives.

This post was inspired by a recent news report in my country (South Korea) that addressed a severe manpower shortage in fire departments making them unable to put out fires effectively. Surprisingly, the fire departments were not understaffed at all, its just that recent push for gender equality in all public sectors (Police, fire, military officers) resulted in big hiring spikes of women that ended up getting exempt from difficult frontline tasks, being sent to desk work in air conditioned buildings, while only the men were sent to do physically demanding work. Hence the office roles were overstaffed while actual firefighting roles were understaffed.

I see a pattern happening in this manner.

  1. Firefighting is a dangerous, physically demanding job that is needed in society to save lives. As such, firefighters are treated with respect, paid a livable wage, and job security guaranteed by the government. There are some office roles, but they're given to the older, senior members who have suffered injuries, or firefighters that are on rotation so they can take breaks in between demanding tasks. As it turns out most firefighters are men. But thats ok. In an ideal world, everyone is happy.

  2. Like with any other public sector job, feminists and gender equalists inevitably point out any gender disparity, try to "fix" the issue by pressuring the government to hire more women despite the fact that men are more capable of putting out fires and rescuing trapped civilians from burning buildings.

  3. The department complies with social pressure to avoid being labeled as misogynists, then the department heads scratch their heads pondering as to how theyre supposed to divvy up the work. The fit and strong (usually men) get sent to dangerous and physically demanding tasks while the physically weaker individuals (usually women) are sent to do office work. In the beginning it seems only fair.

  4. However as time goes on, the men get burnt out because theyre unable to take breaks on rotation, due to office jobs being filled by women who will never swap out to do difficult work. The injured also have no option to keep working. Hence less and less men stay in the department long term, and those that do are stretched thin.

  5. As a result the efficiency of the entire department takes a hit and actual peoples lives and livlihoods are affected negatively. Some propose giving an extra incentive pay to those working in the frontlines to balance things out. But feminists and most women do not take kindly to this "special treatment" because that appears to unfairly benefit men, and as they say, "equal work equal pay" is the mantra of a gender equal society. No politician will ever touch this issue with a 9 foot pole because ostracizing female voters or being branded as a misogynist is a surefire way to lose an election. Thats 50% of the population you will alienate, for what? Long term survival of your society? You wont live long enough for the problems to affect you anyways. You live in a much safer neighborhood anyways.

  6. The system deterioriates to a point where women themselves are negatively affected. Police and fire department and military stops functioning effectively, as less and less men are motivated to do their job when they arent being recognized for it. As a result everyone suffers. But women actually suffer more because at least men are strong enough to reasonably defend themselves in the event of a crisis.

So knowing all of this, what should we do to prevent the paradox of gender equality in public services leading to women suffering from the deterioriation of such public services?

You cant make a law that fixes the issue because such a law will be viewed as sexist. If you pay frontline firefighters more, thats sexist. If you raise hiring standards to only allow strong and fit individuals that can lift a fire hose, thats sexist. If you tell the female firefighters to fight fire, thats sexist. Bad news for gender equalists. Fire also burns everyone equally.