By Scottsdale Pinetop
From the Women’s March in January 2017 to the #MeToo movement online, women have become a physical and a digital force to be reckoned with. In the past year, women have felt more empowered than ever to speak up, demand equality, and support each other. That’s why is it so disappointing when women are still too often overlooked for their accomplishments.
Recently, the Scottsdale Fire Department promoted six employees to new positions, including three to captain and three to engineer. Among them was the city’s first female fire captain Kelly Cayner. In a profession that is still overwhelmingly male-dominated, this is a notable event in Scottsdale’s history and for female empowerment. But what should have been a front-page story was pushed to a one-line mention on page 8 of the Scottsdale Republic.
Cayner’s story was never really told and her accomplishment was hardly recognized. That’s unfortunate and another reminder of big media’s waning resources.
Hopefully, we can try to help make it right.
In a time when women empowerment and equality in the workforce is a hot topic, Captain Cayer’s achievement is an inspiration to all. Her promotion is a testament to women across the country that are breaking down barriers and setting new aspirations for females in male-centric workplaces. If there were a simple way of ending workplace gender inequality, we wouldn’t be where we are today. #MeToo is one of the great civil rights efforts of this or any other time. And it is women like Cayer that are helping make this happen.
But we still have a long way to go. It’s important for our community to make #MeToo not just a hashtag, but a call to action to strive for gender equality. We should congratulate women like Captain Kelly Cayner at every opportunity. Thank you Captain Cayer for your service in ensuring our community is safe and for embodying the message that women everywhere can truly do anything. #ScottsdaleToo, I love you!