Data USA shows only 14.2% of police officers are women, while Women In Fire states that 9% of firefighters are.

“There are still many challenges that come with being a female though,” EMT-paramedic Mackenzie Houston said. “One of the largest and most publicly displayed ones is the build of a female versus a male. This job is very physical/hands-on and requires a significant amount of strength to perform.”

It’s not just Houston who encounters this. Concerns about strength are common among women working in positions usually filled by men.

“The major challenge women in the role face is proving we are just as capable mentally and physically,” Patrolman Samantha Raber said.

To overcome this, Raber and Houston work out multiple times a week to maintain good physical condition. However, it’s not only women who face obstacles in opposite gender roles.

“People often give me a funny look when I tell them that I am their nurse,” Robert Zimmerman, registered nurse and paramedic, said. “I have had female staff make comments about obtaining my position by virtue of being a male.”

Zimmerman said he, too, has to battle stereotypes about which gender should do which job.

“I overcame these challenges by working hard and becoming the staff member they come to with questions about EKGs, medications, and difficult IVs,” Zimmerman said. “I am now one of the people that train new nurses for the emergency room.”

Zimmerman, Houston, Raber, and Cass County firefighter Charity Musselman agree friends and family are their biggest supporters. However, the reasons they sought their professions differed as widely as the jobs themselves.

“When I graduated high school in 2006, I wanted to join the military more than anything, but I wanted to be a military police officer,” Raber said. “As I progressed through my military career, I found that I wasn’t doing much police work and more infantry-style work. So, since I never really knew what being a police officer was like, I decided to try out for the Peru Police Department in 2011. I never had anyone inspire me besides fulfilling my inner drive.”

It differed for Musselman, who said her job is a family tradition.

“My dad has been a firefighter in various departments in the state for 30-odd years,” Musselman said. “I have been hearing his stories my entire life. I never really stopped to think that women weren’t firefighters very often. I just thought, eventually, that’s something I would do. It was something you just did in the family.”

Houston’s father also influenced her decision to become an EMT. Her father had been a paramedic before she was born and later became director of the Tippecanoe Emergency Ambulance Service. Because of this, she had grown up in the setting.

“He pushed me very hard to be in this career and follow in his footsteps,” Houston said. “I am grateful he did because now I could not imagine doing anything else.”