Only 27 of the approximately 2,000 full-time firefighters in the country are women, and most are based in Dublin, the Siptu firefighters conference in Killarney heard yesterday.
There are an additional 33 women in the part-time fire service, the conference was told.
Anne Lumsden (32), a firefighter with Dublin Fire Brigade for 10 years, said she still sees heads turning on the capital's streets when people realise it's a woman driving the fire engine.
"A lot of people still don't realise women can join the fire service," Ms Lumsden said.
She is one of 23 women firefighters in Dublin. However, in Cork, Irene Wallace (31) is still the only full-time female firefighter 11 years after she joined.
Women were applying to join the service in Cork but were not passing the tough physical tests, Ms Wallace said.
Maeve Carroll (35), one of two female firefighters in Limerick city, said pregnant female firefighters were often given clerical and call-answering jobs in other departments run by local authorities.
Ms Carroll called for an end to this practice and said pregnant firefighters should not have to break their service. Public-awareness campaigns and visits to schools to advise on fire safety, as well as work in the fire stations, were jobs they could do away from the front line while they were pregnant.
"When they took us on first day, they knew we were female. They should have had a policy in place. It shouldn't be up to the firefighters when pregnant to ask for policies," said Ms Wallace.
Dublin Fire Brigade is one of the few fire services to have a maternity policy. Pregnant women there are sent to the control room, which is still out of station duties, the conference heard.
The female firefighters called for a bigger drive to recruit more women.
There was also a strong call at yesterday's conference to abolish call-out charges for attendance at fires.