From the Chicago Tribune: Dozens of athletic women — including marathon runners, tri-athletes, lifeguards and spin-class instructors — failed the Chicago firefighters Physical Abilities Test last year. Now a federal lawsuit challenging Chicago's test has been filed against the, alleging that the test is unfair to women, who fail the test at a disproportionate rate than men.

The suit, which seeks class-action status, claims that the test places too much emphasis on strength, rather than firefighting skills, and that there are more equitable tests available that the city has declined to adopt.

Chicago hired a private company to develop and administer its Physical Abilities Test, which differs from the widely used Candidate Physical Ability Test, created by the International Association of Fire Fighters.

Chicago has only 116 female firefighters, representing about 2% of the 5,000-member work force. The last time the Physical Abilities Test was given in 2006, 44 women passed and 183 failed, compared to 1,404 men who passed and 108 who failed, officials said. In 1995, 64 women passed and 281 failed, compared to 3,300 men who passed and 283 who failed. Read the entire article here.