<% ballot="242720" ' Check nothing is broken broken = 0 if ballot = "" then broken = 1 end if set vt = Server.Createobject("mps.Vote") openresult = vt.Open("Vote", "sa", "") ' Created object? if IsObject(vt) = TRUE then ' Opened db? if openresult = True AND broken = 0 then ballotresult = vt.SetBallotName(ballot) ' read the vote votetotal=(vt.GetVoteCount(ballot, "yes")+vt.GetVoteCount(ballot, "no")) if votetotal <> 0 then ' there are votes in the database numberyes = vt.GetVoteCount(ballot, "yes") numberno = vt.GetVoteCount(ballot, "no") percentyes = Int((numberyes/votetotal)*100) percentno = 100 - percentyes ' fix graph so funny graph heights dont appear 'if percentyes = 0 then ' percentyes = 1 'end if 'if percentno = 0 then ' percentno = 1 'end if else ' summut went wrong frig it numberyes = 0 numberno = 0 percentyes = 50 percentno = 50 end if end if end if %> Votes so far:

100% 0%			>		>
			Yes: <% =percentyes %>%		No: <% =percentno %>%

This is one of those questions which demand another question: "Which man, which woman?" I know women who could be far better firefighters than I would be.
Edward Margerum, USA

The "fire fighter's" job is much more than putting the wet stuff on the red stuff today. With over 70% of our emergency calls being medical aids, we must have personnel that are attuned to the needs of our customers. The majority of our customers are women and children and I have found that female fire-fighters have a better ability to meet the psychological and emotional needs of these people. While there have been some difficulties in incorporating females into the service, I have found that the greatest challenge has been to overcome the traditional way of doing things. It has only been since we have opened the doors to females and smaller males that we have found smarter ways of doing the job. As a point of reference- I have been a fire fighter since 1969 and now serve as the Training Officer of an agency with 400 fire personnel. Battalion Chief J.D. Rosson, USA

OF COURSE THEY ARE! Out in the bush we keep having to rescue these little sheilas who continually think they can do mens tasks like cutting wood and catching kangeroos with our bare hands. Only last week I had to rescue one sheila from a crazed Koala bear as she tried to stalk a kangeroo. It was the happiest day of my life.
Paul De Souza, Australia

Lets face facts: every time a male occupation, including and especially the military, is opened up to females all the physical standards are lowered so the female can qualify. What does that tell you?
Pat O'Leary, USA

Stereotypes do justice to no one. It makes much more sense to judge ability based on an individual basis. Besides, knowing scientific trends, next year, research will indicate that women are more spatially adept.
Alex Parkin, USA

It depends what is meant by a tough job. Men and women are different and are designed to carry out different but complimentary roles in the family and in society. A healthy society is one where these roles are kept and the importance of them is highly valued and respected. The erosion of the roles continues to lead to a breakdown in society and increased crime, instability and disrepect for others. Let's recognise the value of these roles and build a better society for all.
Andrew Fisher, UK

There should be no discremination between a man and a woman.
Mukhtar Ahmed, Pakistan

Fact: some females are tougher than most males. Fact: females generally have a higher pain threshold than males. For obvious reasons. It's just centuries of worldwide cultural conditioning that patriarchy is natural which has influenced the nay-sayers on this board. Discrimination on gender alone is anachronistic. One day, newspapers and bookshops will no longer have to have a Women's section, sadly reminding us that 51% of the populace are considered a "minority group". Speed that day!
D Edwards, UK

Well done to Wendy Sayer for standing up for her right as a woman to act like a woman! Very courageous at a time when there is more pressure than ever on women to behave like men. If I were a woman I would resent this pressure more than traditional sexism. Another thing that is obvious from this board is that it is in the main men who think that women are just the same as men. It's not a supremacy/inferiority thing as I see it, but a simple matter of reality vs. political correctness. Men and women should work together to do as well as we can, not bicker and argue about being equal or not.
Alex Stanway, UK

If you can do a job, you should not barred from it on the basis of your sex. Whether the average man is better at some job than the average woman doesn't mean we should conclude that "no" woman can do that job. And visa-versa. Statistically, there must be good women firefighters with excellent spacial skills. If there are fewer women than men with these skills, so what?
M O'Neill, Canada

Let's not argue over something that doesn't have much to argue about. It is obvious that training and practice can achive any goals a person has set. If it were a woman willing to be a firefighter it may take more training and effort on the part of the woman like wise if a man is willing to nurture infants. According to Islam men and women are complementary to each other. Hence one completes the other and we need both men and women to live with compassion and mercy for each other.
Mohammed, USA

I've worked as a scaffolder since leaving school 18 years ago and in that time I have seen grown men having to admit that they were totally unable to carry out the work that was being asked of them so to put a woman in that position just to prove a point is I believe totally unacceptable.
Neil Beresford, UK

Sounds like the usual attempt to set society backwards by male chauvanists. People of all shapes, sizes, denominations, colours, races, genders etc. are good at different things as individuals not as a group.
Barry Tregear, UK

I think women should stay at home and look after the children. Have you ever seen a woman coal miner?
Robbie Burt, UK

Generally, the average woman is not as physically strong as the average man. Therefore, if a job demands physical strength, a man may be more suited to it. However, not all "tough" jobs require physical strength. Tough can relare to mental strength, and it's my experience that a determined woman is at least equal to a determined man. The problem with the question is that it is posed in an emotive way. Men are physically adapted for some jobs, women for others, and to compare is to ask "is an apple better than an orange". Women are neither better or worse, just different to men, any other approach is either political correctnes or prejudice.
J Blake, UK

Surely it must depend on the individual...some women have more 'maleness' than others, so surely some women will make good firefighters, just like some men make good nurses.
Tracy Lee, UK

The sole point for judging whether an applicant is hired for a post or not should be whether they can do the job. Some argue that all women are biologically suited to raising kids and be good homemakers. Whereas men are naturally stronger, more robust, etc. I advise anyone adopting these sweeping truisms to take a look at the results from the women's weight-lifting competition at the recent Asian Games. I don't regard myself as a wimp who regularly gets sand kicked in my face, but I can't lift 140 kg over my head and probably never will be able to. Visit the Chinese State Circus and then re-examine your opinions. On the other hand, if women want to take on the challenge of such demanding jobs then they have to accept that they have to work under the same conditions as the men and not some rareified version of the same unless they have talents which complement that of their male collegues.
Ian Pulham, Germany

Women can be taught to handle tough jobs althogh this would take a bit of time and effort.
S Ganesh, Singapore

Let us understand this not as an indicator of any superiority of the male gender, rather as an indicator of a physical difference separating the two, much in the way that nature would not prefer males to get pregnant.
Ashish Kumar, India

Of course it depends on the actual job, but the best men are stronger than the best women.
Jim Pittman, USA

The traditional roles for men and women evloved over time because they are survival oreinted for society as a whole. When we break down the traditional roles for social experimentation and engineering we are risking the survival of the society.
Richard T Ketchum, USA

I'm sorry, but the question is non-sensical! Some women are perfectly capable of jobs that "Hard Men" can do - some aren't. What we're dealing with here is a blatant abuse of statistics. The average Man and average Woman do not exist! When will these people get that in their heads?
James Robinson, UK

Yes in some instances, it would be better that women were spared from the toughest of jobs.
Steve Socolof, USA

Woman are alright at somethings like being shop assistants and lawyers, but lets face it, they aren't much cop at practical work.
John, USA

Of course the tough jobs aren't just for men. It depends on the capabilities of the individual. Unfortunately, even this close to the new millennium women are rarely taken seriously enough to allow them the opportunity.
Jane Callan, UK

We must start to look at ourselves as individuals rather than genders. Sexism is the reason that only men have done the heavy, dangerous and dirty jobs throughout history. While on average men may be physically stronger than women, there are countless individual women who are far stronger than individual men. No more of this sexist psychobabble -- an employer must hire the best person for the job, regardless of whether it is a man or a woman.
Ronald Herbert, Canada

The tough jobs should go to those who step up and show they can do them, and want to do them, male or female.
Joan Lisa, USA

No, but I would say that, purely due to the strength required, the job of a fireman is definitely better done by a man.
Peter Olohan, Texas, USA

Biologically women are not, and never will be physically equal to men. The construction of their bodies, combined with hormonal cycles, make them more tender, caring beings, with different emotional reactions to those of a man. Women have a valuable role to play, but not where brute force is required.
Women may well make better planners behind the scenes and these skills should not be overlooked.
Wendy Sayer, England

Political correctness has gone too far. No we don't live in the age where women are "little women" and cook and clean for their men. But do we live in an age where we're prepared to lose a war, or let people die in burning buildings for the sake of equal opportunities? Or an age where children will come home from school to see their "new man" dad cooking dinner, and then wait for their mother to come home from work at 8pm and be too tired to be bothered with them? We will be lucky indeed if the next war we fight is fought against an equal opportunities dictator, or if your house catches on equal opportunities fire.
Alex Stanway, England

Every person should be judged on their own merits. If a woman can do a job, let them.
Phillip J Wooley, United States

No, and that's why we have Equal Opportunities legislation and an Equal Opportunities Commission - hopefully these rights for women will be extended under the new Human Rights Act. To claim that men are more suited to demanding work merely because of perceived greater physical prowess isn't just "politically incorrect" - it isn't true. Men and women are all different and possess different physical capabilities according to the individual concerned rather than gender. Are women more suited to nursing than men because they are more "emotionally-aware"? I don't think anyone in their right mind would claim they are and these recent remarks are merely part of this phenomenon regarding the insecurity of men in "traditional" professions. Or is insecurity confined to women only as the more "emotionally aware" gender?!
Andrew Stevens, England

I am a farmer, and so is my daughter. We both run the farm, with everything attached to it in work. In New Zealand some farmers still think that we women don't know the differences between the bees and the birds and the bulls and the cows. Times have changed, as on some farms there are no sons who take over the farm, so they have to get used to it. That in New Zealand is still in the making. New Zealand men are still hard of learning.
Maria Rappard New Zealand

I think there is a substantial overlap in the ability of men and women to perform any activity, mental or physical, and consequently, one may find that there are many 'tough' jobs unfit for some men but perfectly suited for some women. I think the answer is not an unqualified 'yes' or 'no'.
Ravi Menon, USA

1) A positive attitude from women will overcome any obstacle. 2) Women can, like me, be trained to deal with difficult and stressful situations. 3) Appropriate design will allow women to operate complex and heavy equipment.
Christine, Canada

"Tough jobs" fall into a rather wide category, not least of which bringing forth a child and rearing it, oftentimes alone. Interestingly there are "tough jobs" men are completely barred from. Artillery shell and ammunition packing has been left to the womenfolk, as men are incapable of performing repetitive tasks without becoming lethally bored. Likewise women are exclusively the hand-crafting manufacturers of virtually every printed circuit board in the world, whether it be for computer, TV set or radio. Men cannot do that at all well either. One might also note that in precision sheet metal and pipe welding involving stainless steel or exotic metals, women likewise lead the field. Mum was a machinist making Norden bombsights for the Allied air raids on Germany, at which factory she met Dad, and I have seen the type of machinery she set up and operated. These gizmos had me stumped just to find the "On" switch. I think on balance cultural programming is the key to behaviour in the workplace, not gender.
Walt O'Brien, Canada

There is so much overlap. If a woman proves she can function as well as a man in a certain situation, there is no good reason for stopping her.
Jordan, Holland

Some women (like some men) would be woefully unfit for many jobs requiring excellent health, strength and dexterity. Many women who aim for these generally high paying jobs have to work harder to succeed not due to inherent inadequacies but more because of conditioning while growing up which discouraged the development of relevant skills. I work in such a field and find it challenging, rewarding, interesting and lucrative! I have a family to support just like many men and it's important that all jobs be open to me regardless of my anatomy!
Janice Berlin, USA

Should a mother perform dangerous work? One can carry a good thing too far.
Warren Abrams, USA

Inspector Morrison might have made a more appropriate point had he suggested that male brawn was the qualifying factor. To suggest that women don't have superior spatial abilities is to deny everything that's been learned by the manual assembly trades for hundreds of years. Women may not be able to handle the brute force tasks as well as men but they make excellent fire marshals supervising the action. They seem to have better judgement of the overall situation. If the first duty is to save lives, women get my vote.
Clark Petrie, Dallas, USA

No. All jobs should be equal but determined by the personal strength and ability of the person. Where the US is wrong is the Affirmative Action program, which is concerned with numbers not quality or capability.
Jerry Fordham, US

Not all jobs, just those that take immediate physical strength such as evacuating a heavy soldier in combat, subduing a violent subject by the police, etc.
Richard Red, USA

Yes, some jobs are best suited to men. And some are best suited to women. Women are naturally more caring, that is a fact of nature. Likewise I would never put a woman on the front line in war, or expect a woman to risk her life for me if I were caught in a burning building. Men risk their lives, it is natural and proper.
Alex Stanway, England

We've had women in the fire-fighting business and in our military for years. Although all this gender equality gives me a warm glow all over, the consequences of it don't. In all cases, the result of this politically correct purity has been a diminution of the requirements for the job. In the case of the fire-fighting trade, they've lowered the standards for carrying and dragging weights, so that women can "compete." I don't know about you, but if I'm unconscious in a burning building, I'd rather have a fireman who can get me out than some woman who's just ensuring gender equity. In the case of the military, they've lowered physical requirements, but only for women, so that in many jobs a man has to be assigned as a flunky for the woman who can't carry the necessary weight. Both cases demonstrate just how phenomenally silly this gender equity business gets, ignoring reality for the sake of Political Correctness.
Nigel Mends, United States

Only if we are still living in the nineteenth century, the women wear hoop-skirts, and men refer to them as 'little woman'. Having had a few tough jobs in my life, anyone who wants one is welcome to it.
Michael King, USA

Yes. We have suffered for too many years now from all of this feminist lunacy. Men are men; and women are women: they are not interchangeable, nor are they the same. Rather than the sexes being complementary, the two sexes seem to be always fighting. Men are men by nature - strong, logical, and protective. Women are women by nature - maternal, caring, and compassionate. When women take on men's roles and, in order to gain acceptance, act like men, the whole of human society falls out of balance. Do you wonder why violent crimes amongst girls is on the rise? Young ladies are being told by feminists that they are the same as boys, and must not behave as they were made. As girls struggle against their innate femininity, they take on the worst aspects of maleness - aggression and competitiveness. Unless men are free to be masculine, and women are free to be feminine, and their work and relationships reflect these gender differences, then there will only be increased unhappiness, discord, and social stress as a result. Leave the tough jobs to the men, and let the women be what they were made to be - loving helpmates and the mothers of humanity.
Robert D Redmile, Canada

Why do some women get so offended when they are told that there are some jobs that only men can appropriately handle, such as the front line in the armed forces where one needs to have some sense of "aggression", and other professions, such as nursing, where positive emotional qualities and verbal skills lend themselves well to womanhood.
Norman Grieve, UK

Men and women both bring different skills to the workplace but when it comes to the crunch, we are all capable of being brave.
R McLellan, UK

Fire-fighting should be left to men. However I have no problem in having women as dispatchers or drivers. I do not for this reason consider that women are not equal to men. On the contrary they are far superior in many ways. They have the most beautiful roles in the world and one that no man can do is to be a mother.
Henri Sauve, Canada

I have seen women do the same work as men in just about all fields of work. I have noticed no difference in ability or performance. I am a lineman for a large electric utility and worked alongside women and noticed little difference in their ability to perform the job. I fell the most important aspect that is left out is any job needs a person that thinks along with their work. Get with it UK. We let our girls do it all.
Walter Johnson, USA

If someone can do a job then what does it matter who is doing it? Besides the thought of a fair maiden saving me sounds pleasing.
Dale Apfel, Wisconsin, USA

Of course woman and men are different. Name a woman who has written a great world-class Symphony. Name a man who can give birth. Some crazy people think men and woman are the same.
Derick Willaims, Australia

Some specific jobs are gender based. Police, Fire, Armed Forces - males in the firing line, females in the support role. Nursing - females in the front line. Having retired after a career in three (UK and Canada) police forces, and the military, I am convinced that most women are unable to carry out the "aggressive" role. While there is a role for females in both these services, it is, in my view, in the support role, not in the "firing line." For example, there are countless accounts of incidents that arise when police women are dispatched to ugly situations which they are unable to handle. In many instances this is simply because the officer is female.
Michael L Wood, Canada

Why do so-called experts talk as though there are not over 140 other countries who may have practised this for years! When I was in the WRAF I could carry 2 kitbags & a rifle. Do I want women in the fireservice? The question should be: do I want a male or female who are not extremely fit & able to lift x number of pounds! Fitness to do the job is what matters.
Nelda Goddard, USA

Back to top | BBC News Home | BBC Homepage | ©