Posted on Dec 4, 2015
Does integration of women in all MOSs mean that there is no more double standard for PT/BF%?
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Army
PFT
Women in the Military
MOS
Edited 9 y ago
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 7
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There should be no gender-based standards for MOS-specific skills. If a female wants to have an MOS which requires a lot of physical strength, she will have to demonstrate that she is equal to males in that particular feat of physical strength.
But, PT scores are an evaluation of overall physical fitness, not a measurement of a particular feat of physical strength. And it is a matter of the structural engineering, in general, that the female body is built differently than the male body. Female center of gravity is generally lower than the male center of gravity, making pushups more difficult for females. Try adding a weight 10 pound belt around your hips to lower your center of gravity to see how well you do pushups, the raise that weight belt up to around your chest and compare the difference. Same total weight up are pushing up, but different place on the body will certainly make a difference in your pushup ability.
Because female hips are generally wider than male hips, female femur bones tend to be more out of plumb than male femur bones, which makes females have less efficient strides, at any speed, than males. Not to mention that females, in general, are shorter than males, so have shorter legs, meaning that their stride is just plain smaller than male stride length. The difference in stride style and stride length means a female is simply going to be slower than a male of similar age and size.
These differences in structural engineering are the basis for the gender differences in the PT point scales. The few females who can score 300 on the male PT scale are actually in BETTER overall physical fitness than males in the same age group who also score 300. If the Army decides to use the same PT scale for males and females, then that will mean either a lot of unfit males, if they lower the scale, or a lot fewer females in the Army at all, if they raise the scale. Either way would be wrong, in my opinion.
But, PT scores are an evaluation of overall physical fitness, not a measurement of a particular feat of physical strength. And it is a matter of the structural engineering, in general, that the female body is built differently than the male body. Female center of gravity is generally lower than the male center of gravity, making pushups more difficult for females. Try adding a weight 10 pound belt around your hips to lower your center of gravity to see how well you do pushups, the raise that weight belt up to around your chest and compare the difference. Same total weight up are pushing up, but different place on the body will certainly make a difference in your pushup ability.
Because female hips are generally wider than male hips, female femur bones tend to be more out of plumb than male femur bones, which makes females have less efficient strides, at any speed, than males. Not to mention that females, in general, are shorter than males, so have shorter legs, meaning that their stride is just plain smaller than male stride length. The difference in stride style and stride length means a female is simply going to be slower than a male of similar age and size.
These differences in structural engineering are the basis for the gender differences in the PT point scales. The few females who can score 300 on the male PT scale are actually in BETTER overall physical fitness than males in the same age group who also score 300. If the Army decides to use the same PT scale for males and females, then that will mean either a lot of unfit males, if they lower the scale, or a lot fewer females in the Army at all, if they raise the scale. Either way would be wrong, in my opinion.
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I think the two gender based scales will stay, and non gender specific standards will be MOS based.
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