Friday, November 18, 2005

Fighting nature

Democrats claim to fight for all things nature, they want things to be natural. Really they are just anti-capitolist but let's pretend for a minute that they really do believe in supporting a natural order.

Then why do they so adamantly oppose gender roles?

I was at Les Schwab last night and while I was watching the guys work I realized that they were... all guys. This is not because they discriminate but because women generally do not gravitate towards work of that nature.

So why does our society, and especially government, insist on creating the illusion that men and women can do and should do the same tasks?

The Portland Firefighters have this as a condition of employment:

Our Physical Agility Test reflects the minimum physical abilities you need to do this job. In the Physical Agility Test, you will be asked to perform several tasks similar to those performed by firefighters on the job. These tasks are designed to test your strength, stamina, endurance, agility and ability to work at heights.

They say to "check back" for the current testing benchmarks but I have to wonder, are they different for men and women applicants? Clearly men are physically stronger than women and can lift more weight.

Is giving a woman a lighter load a smart idea? I don't know about you but I don't want the woman firefighter, who didn't make the minimum requirements a man would have to, trying to lift me up and carry me out of a burning building. This kind of ridiculous social promotion could get people killed. (Remember the woman deputy who had her gun taken from her and the killing spree that ensued?)

If a fire department refuses to hire a woman applicant because she can't perform the same as a man it's not discrimination, it's following the natural order of things.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

And on the other side of Nature's coin:

Salem's requirement that EMT's and Paramedics also be Firefighters helped drive the ambulance service back to a private enterprise.

The bedside manner of an all macho male medical team often gave patients the feeling they were interrupting a tough-man contest.

Gunslinger said...

I know at least three female Paramedics in Salem. And actually... Salem's requirement was that all FIREFIGHTERS be Paramedics. No EMT's allowed on an engine unless they had been grandfathered.

What drove Salem out of the Ambulance business, and gave Rural Metro a shot, was the fact that running an ambulance is not a revenue maker for a municipality.

Actually most municipal ambulance services lose money each year on having to maintain the vehicle, pay the staff, maintain the level of supplies on board, and spend money dealing with billing.

I will agree though with some of the tough man thing though. About 2 years ago, salem hired a bunch of new people. A lot of them were young, and full of bravado. They were, however, very good at their jobs. At work though, they were always professional, knowledgable, and friendly.

The small RFPD I was working for during this time (which shall remain nameless) had a large number of females (though all volunteers at the time) At one point, they comprised about 15% of the volunteer force. We had no different standards for them. One standard. The one standard we had was pretty weak, when compared to say, Marion County #1, or Keizer. (Salem has no volunteers)

Anonymous said...

For the record, yesterday the Gullybabe had to get some new tires on her car. Since she is grownup and independent, I didn't insist on "being the man" and dealing with the tire shops. I just told her how to read the size on the sidewall, and then she called a few different tire shops to get a quote. She ended up going to LES SCHWAB. Why? Because, not only did they give her the best price, but also because they were the only shop professional enough to treat her like a CUSTOMER and not like some dumb broad. So, maybe "all those guys" at Les Schwab know more about women's issues than the staffs of some other "more inclusive" businesses...

Daniel said...

Gullyborg is right on. A man knows how to treat a women courteously. Open doors, pull out chairs, pay for dinner...

The feminists would never accept that politeness.