Chicago Fire Department makes progress, but not enough, toward ending racial, sexual discrimination

A Chicago Fire Department that remains 91% male and 64% white has made some, but not all, of the changes needed to stop sexual and racial discrimination and protect employees who complain about it from retaliation, a new report concluded Tuesday.

Last year, Chicago’s now-former Inspector General Joe Ferguson shined a glaring spotlight on the white male bastion of city government and demanded immediate changes in policy, training and employee protection.

The audit was accompanied by a survey in which 73 of all 285 respondents, both male and female — that’s 26% — reported experiencing sexual harassment “at least once” at CFD.

Even more troubling was the rate of sexual harassment of women. Out of 45 female survey respondents, 28 — 62% — reported being