Advocates for female firefighters say their struggles are part of a larger trend, as evidenced by recent gender discrimination lawsuits against fire departments in Illinois, Virginia, and Texas.
The first female chief of a municipal fire department in the state says she briefly pondered suicide after years of sexual harassment.
According to the National Fire Protection Association, 93,700, or 8%, of U.S. firefighters were female in 2018, the latest year for which data was available.
Similar lawsuits have been filed ā and won ā by female firefighters in Illinois, Texas and Virginia.
Williams said she is the third female department head in Carrboro to file such a suit against Andrews, who recently announced that he would retire in July.