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From: dimitrov@csd2.UUCP (Isaac Dimitrovsky)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Women in combat
Message-ID: <4160017@csd2.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 23-Jun-85 18:21:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: csd2.4160017
Posted: Sun Jun 23 18:21:00 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 26-Jun-85 06:13:31 EDT
References: <2555@randvax.UUCP>
Organization: New York University
Lines: 34

[]

> I'll challenge the bit about fire fighters.  In NYC just a few years back,
> the fire department was forced to give women an "equivalent" physical test
> for admittance.  This test was the exact same thing that the men had, except
> every single part of it was easier (i.e. fewer reps, shorter distance,
> lighter weights).  This was all because the test given was "geared toward
> men", who could do more strenuous activities than the women.

I think the claim made by the women who sued to become fire fighters
was that the tests for firefighters had parts which discriminated
against women, and *which were not really relevant to firefighting
ability* (i.e. doing pushups). The second point was the important
one; it's my understanding that if the court had decided that these
parts *were* relevant to firefighting ability, they would not have
ordered the tests changed regardless of whether they discriminated
against women. So the argument made was that these women were being
discriminated against because of factors unrelated to their ability
to do the job.

> I seem to remember that the general feeling by we male chauvanist pigs was
> that any one of us would feel much better if he were in a fire and the fire
> fighter coming to rescue him was male.  In fact this was part of a letter to
> the editor in the Daily News (letter written by a female).

It depends on the individual. If I had a choice between the woman who
picks Rodney Dangerfield up in the beer commercial and Woody Allen,
I'd have to go with the woman.

Isaac Dimitrovsky
allegra!cmcl2!csd2!dimitrov   (l in cmcl2 is letter l not number 1)
251 Mercer Street, New York NY 10012

Just because it's a preconceived notion doesn't mean it's wrong!