In the debate over women in the military, the question of
physical ability is often raised as a sort of trump card—no matter my
philosophical reasons, what if men are just more physically capable of
performing the job?
Here’s an interesting mental game to play: what if there
were a job for which women were physically better suited? Not mother or wet-nurse or fine needlework
but astronaut?
According to a NASA contractor’s analysis, women use far
less resources than men to stay alive—the female metabolic system simply
requires less, particularly if one compares smaller women to larger men. So a mission to somewhere such as Mars, when
the weight of the launch adds money, could save by choosing a crew of small
female astronauts instead of bulky men.
Actually, based on the women described in the article, I have
a fairly decent body type for a Mars mission.
The Captain, by way of contrast, is approximately my size, yet consumes
more calories than I do. (Maybe not now when
my body is feeding the little one as well as me, but certainly during regular
life.) So if I get pinged for the Mars
mission, I will have to leave him behind.
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