Many moons ago, when I attended the U.S. Naval Academy, the
campus showcased two obstacle course climbing walls—the men’s wall and the
women’s wall. One higher. One lower. Two passing 1.5-mile run times. One
faster. One slower. Two numbered requirements for push-ups. One more. One less.
Men: Higher, faster,
more.
Women: Lower, slower,
less.
It just glares at you, doesn’t it? And in my opinion, it’s
the kiss of death in terms of unit cohesion. We say we want to give women a
fair shot at integrating equally into our military, but how is this possible
with differing standards within our ranks?
While there is no
easy solution, ultimately, the Navy would do well to move to fitness standards
based on job requirement.
Let’s use the easy example of a Navy fireman.
If the job requirement states that a fireman must be able to
drag a 170-pound person for 50 feet, there’s a valid reason for it. If I’m that
170-pound person, lying collapsed in a burning building and in need of
rescue, I want to know that whoever arrives
to save me has passed this requirement. I don’t care if they’re male, female,
gay, straight, purple or striped. Can you get me out of here? That’s all I want
to know.
In Navy flight school, the instructors employed all manner
of contraptions and apparatuses to simulate helicopter crashes, jet crashes,
and being dragged by a parachute. No surprise that the tests were the same for
all of us. Survival in the event an aircraft mishap is most certainly a gender-neutral
endeavor.
The camaraderie and
mutual respect garnered from shared experiences like the ones I had in flight
school, men and women having met the same standards, drew us closer as a group,
resulting in a more cohesive team.
Compare this with the “baseline” physical readiness
standards that every member of the Navy, regardless of warfare specialty, must
meet.
Navy personnel must run 1.5 miles or swim 500 yards,
followed by curl-ups and push-ups. They are then rated in one of six
performance categories, delineated by age and gender, based on their physical
readiness test results:
Maximum
Outstanding
Excellent
Good
Satisfactory
Failure
Let’s say a 35-year-old woman runs 1.5 miles in 15:00. This
would earn her a “good” score, whereas, her 35-year-old male counterpart who also
ran 15:00 would only receive a “satisfactory” score. Come the end of the year
when annual job evaluations are given, assuming all else is equal, this could
be the tie breaker.
In fact, a
35-year-old woman can run a full two
minutes slower than her male counterpart for a “satisfactory” or passing
score. Two minutes? Are you kidding?
Ok, I said this would be a short article, but I just have to say something on this point.
My husband and I have owned a triathlon coaching business
for eleven years, coaching athletes ranging in age from 18 to 74. This means we work day in and day
out with individuals, men and women, who fall within the age range to serve in
the military. Most of them are not elite-level athletes, just as most military
personnel are not elite-level athletes. Most of them are accountants,
attorneys, stay-at-home moms and dads . . . you get the idea. Just normal folks
who like to stay in shape.
Based on our experience, it would be ludicrous to suggest
that our female athletes would, on average, perform two minutes slower on a 1.5-mile
run test than our men in the same age range. And yet, if we use the Navy’s
physical fitness standards as an example, this is exactly what you see.
Regarding the performance of the 35-year-old woman, the
35-year-old man has every right to say, “She did not meet the qualifications I
had to meet.” And there is nothing more damaging to the esprit de corps necessary
in any well-functioning team than the splinters of perceived unfairness formed
in cases like this.
I remember completing the physical readiness test while
overseas on deployment and receiving a “maximum” score for push-ups. When my
fellow pilots found out, they were smug. “So, how many push-ups did you have to
do on the women’s scale?” You know,
that inferior one. The one that proves that you’re weaker and we’re stronger.
Yeah, that one. Fortunately, I was able to respond that I had scored the
maximum on the men’s scale. But what
was interesting was their reactions. It was immediate. A 180-degree about face. I had to squint from the
onrush of air from so many rapidly deflating balloons. Well, ok then. Perhaps you’re worthy, after all.
More on push-ups below, but first, back to running. If the Navy insists on baseline run time
standards for its personnel, they should use a physical-standards-based-on-job-requirement
model and calibrate the baseline to the job that requires the lowest physical
standards. Then, depending on warfare specialty, the physical requirements would
go up from there. Regardless, the standards should be the same for all, men and
women, in their particular warfare specialty.
And just as a side note, does running 1.5 miles once per
year and doing so under a certain time indicate fitness? I knew plenty of service members who never
worked out. Ever. Yet, once a year, they gutted out a 1.5-mile run and were deemed
“fit.”
Which leads me to the
500-yard swim standards . . .
You know, I’m not even going to cover this. The main problem
with swim standards isn’t a gender issue, not primarily, anyway, so I won’t
touch it. No, this article is supposed to be short. I won’t even start. Can’t
start . . .
But . . . Just . . . Can’t . . . Help . . . It.
Aghh, I have to say something!
The swim tests are so utterly unrelated to fitness, it’s ludicrous.
Yes, ludicrous. I’ve now used the word ludicrous four times in one article, but
the absurdity of the swim standards demands it.
As a swim coach, the subject is near and dear to my
heart—perhaps too near. But when a 30-year-old woman is given 15 minutes to
swim 500 yards—this is 3 minutes per 100 yards—you have to scratch your head. I
mean . . . no. Just no, no, no. This is not in any way, shape, or form, a
proper measure of fitness.
At these swim
speeds—in fact, for most of the swim speeds listed in all categories for all
ages—you are testing technique, not
fitness.
Times in swimming for all but those engaged in the competitive
swimming arena are far more technique-dependent than fitness-dependent. Someone
with decent swim technique who hasn’t exercised in years, can jump in the pool
and swim 500 yards in the time standards dictated by the Navy.
And lest you think upper body strength has anything to do
with possible swim time differentials between men and women, you’d have to move
to the collegiate levels of competitive swimming and higher to find it. For the
average sailor, there is no
difference between men and women in the water. The sport is so technique dependent, gender becomes a
moot point. Therefore, if the Navy insists on swim time standards as a measure of fitness, without question, these have to be the same.
And, oh by the way, swim
times required for a passing score should equate to the fitness level required for a passing time in the run within the same
age group. For the 30-year-old woman, to pass the run test requires completing
1.5 miles in 16:45, or 11:10 per mile. And while this might not seem
exceptionally fast, if you were to equate it to the “fitness” required to swim
500 yards in 15 minutes, you could walk
the 1.5-miles. No, make that stroll. No, actually, you could hop backwards,
spinning the whole way, and it would still work . . . .
But I digress.
The powers that be
have it right with curl-ups.
The number of curl-ups required for men and women are the
same across all age categories. Bravo. As it should be.
But push-ups . . . ?
I have two issues with push-ups. First, is the test itself
fair? Can men and women be expected to compete equally here based on the
inherent physical differences between them? And second, is the number of
push-ups one can perform indicative of one’s fitness.
On the first point, whether you like it or not, men and
women are built differently. Generally
speaking, men are more well-muscled in the upper body than a woman. That’s
just how it is. Our bodies are different. So, generally
speaking, men are going to be able to perform more push-ups than a woman.
The current standards reflect this.
But no matter how you
slice it, no matter how fair you think the adjusted standards are, in the
elemental psyche of a human, we know the score (pun intended). The 35-year-old
male knows he had to perform three times the number of push-ups—three times—to receive a passing score
than his female counterpart.
Can you imagine how the 35-year-old male would feel, having just
performed 26 push-ups, an effort resulting in the category “failure,” while the
35-year-old woman next to him performed just 9 and received a passing score?
You can scream all you want and say that the standards have been adjusted to
allow for the differences in our physical make-ups—that it’s a fair test—but I
highly doubt that man is going to think so. And will this add to unit cohesion?
Highly doubtful.
On the second point, does the number of push-ups one can perform
indicate physical fitness? What if a
45-year-old man cranks out 68 push-ups, but can only manage 1.5 miles in 16:08,
which is 10:45 per mile? Is this person more fit than the 45-year-old woman who
can only do 4 push-ups, but who can run 1.5 miles in 10:58, which is 7:19 per
mile?
In this example, the man would pass the Navy’s test, but the
woman would not. Hmm.
If the Navy is going to require physical fitness standards,
the tests to determine if personnel meet those standards need to be fair. Once
fair tests have been established, the standards need to be the same across the
board. Moving to physical tests based on job requirement would be a step in the
right direction.
Women need to be viewed equally, as having passed the same
standards, not as having taken an easier path or that they are somehow less
qualified or inferior. The successful integration of women in our ranks depends
on it.
