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AIBU

Men & Woman are not equal?

(72 Posts)
Bridgeit Wed 08-Aug-18 23:22:58

I have just been watching a programme showing the recovery of a articulated highsided lorry which had turned over on ice , sliding of a dual carriage way into a ditch. It was not rocket science when watching the recovery to realise that it required not only serious thought & planning but brute force ,strength & stamina to manoeuvre the heavy duty equip. It was a complicated situation & extremely physically demanding in dangerous & appalling conditions. I don’t think many if any woman would be or could be equal to a man in this scenario. I take my hat off to these unsung heroes.

Jalima1108 Fri 10-Aug-18 17:19:30

Yes, I think that's true Fennel

I hope that, with our different strengths and weaknesses, we complement each other, rather than compete.
And nowadays the barriers have been breached so that traditionally male roles are open to women and vice versa.

Fennel Fri 10-Aug-18 17:16:33

The way I see it - and some of you will disagree - is that some men and some women can become equally physically strong.
BUT - women are the ones who grow babies inside them. So we tend to take more care not to wreck our physique. Because we're responsible for the production of the next generation.

Bridgeit Fri 10-Aug-18 17:03:12

Thank you Bagatelle.

Bagatelle Fri 10-Aug-18 16:49:16

I'm appalled by the vicious responses to the OP.

Bridgeit Fri 10-Aug-18 16:19:14

Ohh I forgot the Jolly hockeysticks !

Bridgeit Fri 10-Aug-18 16:18:03

Exactly Grandad1943, I watched it, just the weight of the hook would be too much for some let alone the chain which had to be carried down the bank that and the angle made it more difficult.
Some comments being made shows how little some know about weight, angles, etc etc, from what I’m reading , it seems a lot of Gns have interpreted my description into a-lorry slide into a bank,which was a bit snowy & needed towing out.. call in the Girlguides. ?

Grandad1943 Fri 10-Aug-18 15:58:10

Well, you certainly need to be somewhat "beefy" to get the freight out of an HGV box trailer that has rolled off the road and down into a gully. Technology may assist in lifting the vehicle later, but the load has to be got out of the trailer usually with a great deal of muscle.

Of coarse, whether that be men or women may depend on who is available and willing to brave the very real hazards in doing such a job.

I know which is the most prominent of the two sexes I see on the motorways doing such jobs at all hours of the day and night in all weather conditions?

M0nica Fri 10-Aug-18 15:43:17

That just confirms my belief that it was more technology and know-how than brute strength. DH spent his career dealing with problems like this, mainly offshore, and it was technology and know-how rather than brute strength that did it. He does not shave his head, is only 5ft 8in and is not particularly 'beefy'

Bridgeit Fri 10-Aug-18 15:01:30

With Spring loaded heavy duty hook

Bridgeit Fri 10-Aug-18 14:58:40

With 2 men .

Bridgeit Fri 10-Aug-18 14:58:11

Monica,it was an articulated lorry off the motor way down in the gulley in snow, with a HGV 30 ton recovery vehicle.

M0nica Fri 10-Aug-18 14:49:54

If they had a hook, they had a crane. I assume they were not doing the job with crossed timbers, levers, ropes and several men working a capstan.

Grandad1943 Fri 10-Aug-18 14:48:56

trisher, in regards to your post @ 13:26 today, the pay scales are:-

Assignment Controller = highest

Legal Secretary = next level but only just below

Assignment Handler = next level or can be training status.

All the above grades receive salaries well above the national average due to the pre-employment qualifications required for the positions

Three of the Assignment controllers are also joint owners of the company so obviously they receive shareholder profits enhancements on a yearly basis.

We have also spent the last fifteen months training up one of the Legal Secretaries to be a Assignment controller and (with any luck) she should gain her final higher IOSH accreditation in the Autumn which should then allow me to finally retire.

Bridgeit Fri 10-Aug-18 14:45:48

There wasn’t enough room for more than a couple of people.

Bridgeit Fri 10-Aug-18 14:44:04

Yes it did come across like that, which is a shame because, I like to do things for myself I’m not a girlie girlie woman.
But I stand by the praise I was giving to the men & the situation I was watching. I still believe there are more every day average men with the required strength than their are woman.

M0nica Fri 10-Aug-18 14:42:01

Until I see the clip. I will still consider that there was far more machinery in use than believed and that a team of competent trained women could have done it as well as the men.

mcem Fri 10-Aug-18 14:33:47

It's really about sweeping generalisations and stereotyping, isn't it?

Bridgeit Fri 10-Aug-18 14:27:49

Also I was commenting on a situation, which I then generalised about. My silly dizzy female head was agog at the strong males I was watching ,NOT!!.
In truth I watched a situation that for once I viewed outside of my woman’s lib Goggles, & just thought you know what we don’t always give praise where praise is due (to men)
In my girlie excitement to share this with ‘ the girls’ I did not describe what I was thinking very well, which in essence was just to praise the people i was watching , had it have been woman I would have posted the same. What I should have said was I myself & quite a few others would not have been able to do it, not even with the best will in the world would I have been able to, & I don’t think I would be the only one who would
not have the physical strength required.

trisher Fri 10-Aug-18 14:21:04

So not in the if any ?

Bridgeit Fri 10-Aug-18 14:14:35

The clue is in the ‘many’ Trisher

trisher Fri 10-Aug-18 14:12:12

Bridgeit perhaps you should read your own post I don’t think many if any woman would be or could be equal to a man in this scenario.
Wel I've just given you a scenario where a woman would be not only equal to but probably better than a man. This idea that all women are weak and feeble and all men are strong and athletic is cultural. It has its roots in the oppression of women by men. They were not allowed to develop physically because it was easier to control them whilst they remained physically dependent. They were frequently undernourished because the man was the wage earner so must be fed. As this has changed we have women like the Williams sisters, and more women taking part in sports. And as men have less physically demanding jobs the gap narrows.

Bridgeit Fri 10-Aug-18 14:00:07

What a shame some of you didn’t bother to read OP properly Trisher

Your last post is meaningless, as the programme ( which I watched) was not a comparison between an elderly man & 3O yr old woman who goes to the gym.

However neither did I describe the situation as well as I could have, hence some comments I have read seem to be rather reactive & taken as a slight against woman, which is something I abhor ,however in some circumstances reality has to enter the equation, which is a point I was attempting to make. if anyone is unable to get that, perhaps they don’t have a strong & open enough outlook.

trisher Fri 10-Aug-18 13:26:59

I just wonder about the pay scales for the jobs described. Could it be that Legal Secretaries are on a lower pay scale and Assignment Controllers on a higher one? Meaning more men want more pay (surprise surprise). Of course I'm just a women so wouldn't understand the whole thing! As for the OP if the only people available for a rescue were an elderly sedentary man and a woman in her 30s who regularly went to the Gym I know which I would want to help

mcem Fri 10-Aug-18 13:21:45

Ps a wise woman I worked with always questioned anyone boasting of x years of experience. "Is that x years of experience or one year repeated x times?"

mcem Fri 10-Aug-18 13:19:11

Agree that is is an excellent example of 'mansplaining' - a technique regularly used by grandad!
Before that term was used, the women in our family described the patronising man pointing out the obvious to a woman as a
"To let you understand, my dear"!