Doctor of Philosophy
Supervisor:
Dr. Patricia Dolez
Working thesis title: Improving Women’s Fire Protective Clothing
Female firefighters are a minority in their workforce and experience workplace discrimination as a result of their gender. This greatly impacts feelings of workplace safety, which can manifest both physically and psychologically. One way in which gender discrimination manifests is in the access to well-fitted fire protective clothing (FPC). Women in firefighting face significantly higher access barriers when obtaining well-fitting FPC compared to their male counterparts. In most instances, women firefighters report poorly fitted FPC, affecting both the comfort and the function of the clothing. This makes it more difficult to perform routine work tasks and compromises the protection provided by the clothing. The aim of my research is to better understand the barriers that female firefighters face when accessing FPC at the individual, station, and market levels. As well, I am interested in how the ergonomics and design of women’s FPC can be improved to better suit the population. Through this research, I hope to improve access to well-fitted FPC among female firefighters, as a preliminary step in reducing the occupation’s gender gap.
Publications/presentations:
Forgie, J. R. P; Arrendondo, O. R.; Labonno, A. A.; de La Mata, A.P.; Harynuk, J. J.; Batcheller, J.; Dolez, P. I. (2022, Aug 26). Optimizing halogen uptake on self-decontaminating textile finish [Poster presentation]. Faculty of Science Undergraduate Poster Symposium, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Forgie, J. R. P. (2022, March). Is faux fur faux-sustainable? Environmental perspectives on the lifcycle of synthetic and natural fur textiles [Conference Presentation]. Festival of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Forgie, J. R. P. (2021, Aug). Do our clothes need sunscreen? Protection against UV aging in aramid fabrics [Conference presentation]. SMART Network summer student presentation day, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.