women in the military - EQUAL work for equal pay
as an infantry vet, i'll admit that this is near and dear to my heart. one of the most important mantras of feminism is "equal work for equal pay." this is really important, so again "EQUAL WORK for equal pay." in the military, women are allowed to perform 40% lower than a man, and yet receive equal pay.
examples. in the army (which is what i was in, so that's the branch i'll be using), the PT score consists of two minute push ups, two minute situps, and a two mile run.
a 100% score for a female (ages 17-21)
42 push ups - 100 points
78 sit ups - 100 points
15:36 run - 100 points
if a male performed at that level (same age group) he would receive
42 push ups - 60 - bare minimum to pass (41 push ups is FAILING)
78 sit ups - 100 points (same score)
15:36 run - 64 points (20 seconds longer and it would be failing)
now i know, women don't have the muscle mass and whatnot, but that isn't the argument. it's not "equal work for equal pay as long as muscle mass isn't an issue." and strength and endurance does matter in most MOS's, not just infantry. can a civilian woman be a mechanic, sure no question. changing a 25 pound tire on a honda, no problem. but in the military, it's a 100+ pound tire. which means you can either have one woman and one man change the tire, or just one man, again, hardly equal work for equal pay.
even cooks have to carry a lot of weight. the pots are a minimum of 5 gallons. water weighs 8 pounds a gallon for a 40-45 pound pot of boiling water that occasionally needs to be moved - without burning yourself, and women aren't even asked to do the job.
also note that the argument that women should be allowed into the infantry because SOME women can meet the same physical requirements suggests that should be the standard then. the PT chart is the PT chart regardless of MOS (the infantry just has extra physical requirements that don't get recorded - like being able to a 12 mile roadmarch in full gear, with weapons, and in under 3 hours and being able to carry EVERY man in your unit - the smallest guy still had to be able to fireman carry the largest)
to sum up. we can debate the role of women in the military all day long, but the notion of "EQUAL work for equal pay" is clearly a topic feminists don't want to discuss when the military is involved.