Dr. Warren Farrell is the author of many books, including two award-winning international best-sellers, Why Men Are The Way They Are plus The Myth of Male Power. His most recent books are Women Can’t Hear What Men Don’t Say, which was a selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club, and Father and Child Reunion about how fathers can be successful at both work and home. His latest book, just published this year, Why Men Earn More: The Startling Truth Behind the Pay Gap and What Women Can Do About It, helps both employers and employees understand what makes a company want to increase an employee’s pay. His books are published in over 50 countries, and in 10 languages.
Dr. Warren Farrell is available for expert testimony to help fathers stay equally involved in their children's lives after divorce.

CLICK HERE to contact Dr. Warren Farrell for information.

For more about Dr. Farrell or his books, see
www.WarrenFarrell.net (Why Men Earn More)
www.WarrenFarrell.biz (Father and Child Reunion)
www.WarrenFarrell.org
(The Myth of Male Power)
www.WarrenFarrell.info (Women Can’t Hear What Men Don’t Say)
www.WarrenFarrell.us (Why Men Are The Way They Are)
www.WarrenFarrell.ws (The Liberated Man)

Do Women Belong in Combat? Part 2
Why Hazardous Jobs Can Be So Much Less Hazardous for Women


by
Warren Farrell, Ph.D.

Item. Mohammed and Jessica. In the war in Iraq, an Iraqi attorney, Mohammed, witnessed P.O.W. Jessica Lynch being slapped and abused. He was upset enough that he walked six miles, found a U.S. Marine patrol, and, at the risk of his own life, alerted them to her whereabouts.

Mohammed represents Everyman. He represents the biological instinct in men to save a woman-in-jeopardy, even at the risk of his own life. However, the publicity for the woman-in-jeopardy reinforces our belief that women are more likely than men to be in jeopardy. For example, we all remember P.O.W. Jessica Lynch, and many recall the name Shoshana Johnson as the second female P.O.W., but few of us recall the name of even one male P.O.W.

This greater publicity for a woman-in-jeopardy hides this secret: Hazardous occupations are far less hazardous to women than to men. The discovery of this secret creates this opportunity for women: Women can get equal hazard pay for fewer-than-equal hazards; she can receive what I call a “death professions bonus” with not much more physical risk than in everyday life.

The dynamics that lead to this outcome are woven into every aspect of our biology, socialization and institutions—they are the unconscious motivations behind the 25 ways to higher pay and to why men earn more. “The rest,” as they say, “is details.”

The way this works can be quite touching. In male-dominated professions, traditional men tend to compete to be sure that women are cared for, mentored and protected. In return they ask for appreciation. And respect. For example, in South Africa, the laws eliminating apartheid also gave women the option of working in hazardous jobs such as mining. Many women—almost all single moms—have done so; some have tripled their pay. But in the same time period during which 300 male miners lost their lives underground, not a single woman lost hers. Why?

A male miner teaching a woman safety must teach her to sensitively “listen to the rocks”—to listen to their creaking and groaning as they adjust to the shifting weight of the mountain above, a symphony of stress and strain. (Or as the male miners might prefer, like a rock band.)

Similarly, pay is higher and hazards lower for women than men in some of the most treacherous occupations like working on a floating commercial cannery in Alaska. Lance Hough, an Alaskan canner I interviewed, put it this way: “The time pressure is enormous. You’re on an assembly line, having to process 10-20 tons of fish before the next boat comes in with tons more. Power tools like band saws that cut through 500 fish in an hour, or fish injectors with maybe 50 needles (that inject salt into fish fillets), get jammed, and the time pressure tempts the men to try to undo the jam without shutting down the machines. Instead of the fish getting sliced or stuck with needles, your arm gets sliced or your hand is crushed and stuck by the 50-needle fish injector.…“During salmon runs the pressure is even worse, ‘cause you’re only allowed 24 hours in certain areas to fish (for environmental reasons). Hands and arms get stuck and cut, and men get thrown into the icy waters and freeze to death. I’ve seen men who freak out and want “out “get dropped off on the closest piece of land, which could be a tiny island. Whether they find a way off or not I don’t know.”

“Are there any women doing this?” I asked.

“A few. Maybe one or two out of a hundred.”

“What’s it like for them.”

“I hate to say this, but if they’re at all attractive, they get to wash clothes or clean, and avoid that assembly line.”

“Do they get paid less?”

“No, they get paid more—it’s considered a higher ranking.”

Whether in a South African coal mine, an Alaskan fishing boat, or in the American military, men’s protector instinct toward women, and women’s protector instinct toward themselves (and children) keeps men more disposable than women. Here’s an example of the dynamic at work in the military.

At the military’s SERE (survival, evasion, resistance, and escape) schools, concern about the well-being of women was so prevalent among male students that trainers now work to desensitize men to sexual assault and other abuse of women lest their sensitivity be used against them in war. We think of women in the military as being safer in part because they are still prohibited from the most dangerous assignments.

But this prohibition is just a reflection of the traditional male’s instinct to protect women. The “Protection Dilemma:” The Warrior vs. The Worrier Item. The Navy provides the pregnant woman with housing, health care and a benefit package that leads to twice the percentage of single mothers as in the civilian population.

The military currently faces a “protection dilemma”: Protect-the-country versus protect-the-soldier. Traditionally, protecting the country meant preparing the soldier to die for his or her country. Boot camp’s job was to train each soldier to be disposable—to be an unquestioning cog in the military machine. Why?

Questioning, and focusing on rights slow the machine down, compromising the country’s safety for their own. Traditionally, preparing to give one’s life for one’s country is preparing for disposability. Now that traditional mission has been altered.

The involvement of women—traditionally a group that men died to protect—has left the military with the dilemma of preparing warriors who may also be worriers–worrying about their own rights. The military has responded by worrying about the warrior. Currently, then, if a woman in the Navy becomes pregnant, as the Item above notes, the Navy provides her such an array of benefits--from housing to health care—that the Navy now attracts twice the percentage of single mothers as in the civilian population.

These benefits are now available for women without the same price men have traditionally been expected to pay. When a 1985 Navy study found that most women were not able to perform any of the eight most critical jobs required for people on ship, they redefined the jobs to be inclusive of women. For example, the job of carrying a stretcher, previously a two-man job, changed: It is now a four-person job. And the definition of “passing” changed: women at West Point are given 5:30 minutes to complete an obstacle course that the men must complete in 3:20 minutes.

If joining the military is not your thing, no problem. The same principal of the government incorporating women into the protector role and protecting the women who protect applies to police officers, fire fighters and rangers for the U.S. Park Services—all creating the same outcomes of equal pay for women, and often with fewer hazards.

The opportunities for women do not stop with working class hazardous professions. Among white collar professions under government jurisdiction, such as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), CIA, and FBI, the “protection dilemma” leads to the government providing women with equal pay for fewer hazards. For example, in the DEA, all but two of the 47 agents killed have been men.

In brief, all the portions of government that train and hire protectors face the “protection dilemma:” the process it takes to create a protector is a process of sacrifice, of willingness to be disposable, to be a servant. (The very word “hero” comes from the word “serow” from which we get our word servant. ) But personal empowerment also involves having the self-respect and self-esteem to care about one’s own life.

As the government incorporates the worrier’s demand for personal protection with the country’s need for the warrior’s protection, it becomes the perfect time for women to become involved.

What are the underlying reasons behind these differences—behind women’s strength as their facade of weakness, and men’s weakness as their façade of strength? Why do men unconsciously associate being abused with being loved?

And finally, next month Part III, some solutions...

© 2005, Warren Farrell

Dr. Warren Farrell is the author of many books, including two award-winning international best-sellers, Why Men Are The Way They Are plus The Myth of Male Power. His most recent books are Women Can’t Hear What Men Don’t Say, which was a selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club, and Father and Child Reunion about how fathers can be successful at both work and home. His latest book, just published this year, Why Men Earn More: The Startling Truth Behind the Pay Gap and What Women Can Do About It, helps both employers and employees understand what makes a company want to increase an employee’s pay. His books are published in over 50 countries, and in 10 languages.
Dr. Warren Farrell is available for expert testimony to help fathers stay equally involved in their children's lives after divorce.
CLICK HERE to contact Dr. Warren Farrell for information.
www.WarrenFarrell.net (Why Men Earn More)
www.WarrenFarrell.biz (Father and Child Reunion)
www.WarrenFarrell.org (The Myth of Male Power)
www.WarrenFarrell.info (Women Can’t Hear What Men Don’t Say)
www.WarrenFarrell.us (Why Men Are The Way They Are)
www.WarrenFarrell.ws (The Liberated Man)

Copyright 2005 Warren Farrell, Ph.D., all rights reserved