Saturday, 22 January 2011

Stating the obvious?

"Left-wing politicians take away your liberty in the name of children and of fighting poverty, while right-wing politicians do it in the name of family values and fighting drugs. Either way, government gets bigger and you become less free."
 Harry Browne

Courtesy of The Albion Alliance Presents - a rolling news service of EU pronouncements - come this report, presented by Eurofound, entitled "Physical hazards as persistent as ever".
"The exposure of women and men to physical hazards differs widely, the 5th European Working Conditions Survey shows.  These gender differences have remained more or less constant over time.....For instance, 33% of men, but only 10% of women, are regularly exposed to vibrations, while 42% of men, but 24% of women, carry heavy loads. In contrast, 13% of women, but only 5% of men, lift or move people as part of their work.......This is, in part, linked to still-widespread gender segregation in many sectors. For example, the strong majority of workers in the construction sector are male whereas in the care industry, they would be women. In both sectors, physical work is being performed but it is of different nature with lifting or moving people often part of the work....Also in occupations working conditions sometimes vary between men and women, for example, because children interact differently with men or women, female kindergarten teachers end up lifting  children more often than their male colleagues...."
Do note that the differences in percentages between men and women is "linked to still-widespread gender segregation". Avoiding the temptation to point out that there is a reason for more men working in the construction industry and more women in the care industry, one has to ask what the point of this study is? Oh; and what was the cost?

When will the politicos and 'crats realize that there are differences between the genders - both physically and psychologically - and stop trying to equalize those differences?

2 comments:

Sean O'Hare said...

.For instance, 33% of men, but only 10% of women, are regularly exposed to vibrations

Does that suggest that more men than women use vibrators? Shudders!

WitteringsfromWitney said...

SO'H: Very funny and could well be true!