Well, you know what they say: "One small step for MAN, one giant leap for MANkind." But what happens when a WOMAN wants to take a step, too? She is told that her body is not designed to handle radiation in the way that a man's is, so it's more dangerous for her to go into space. This is basically what NASA is telling female astronauts, and as a result, they are denied equal opportunities in the workplace.
Female Astronauts Said To Face Discrimination Over NASA's Space Radiation Concerns - Huffington Post
NASA claims women cannot handle as much radiation exposure as men, and they claim this is based on NASA's own physiological models. Apparently though, these models are based on 1945 data from Hiroshima:
Female Astronauts Face Discrimination from Space Radiation Concerns, Astronauts Say - Space.com
1945 data that has nothing to do with outer space, wow! Pretty scientific, huh?
NASA also claims that it is merely following the limits set by the National Council of Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP). As it turns out, these limits are set at about 20% lower for women, which results in a 45-50% percent loss of professional opportunities for women astronauts!
NASA claims the levels are set differently because of the risk of breast, ovarian, and uterine cancer in women. Okay, but aren't there several kinds of cancers that occur only in men as well?
Whether or not this is actually a legitimate biological difference between men and women (tolerance to radiation exposure, that is) is, I suppose, something only NASA and NCRP can know (?). I'm not a scientist, but it seems like a pretty strange notion to me that women's bodies are innately less evolutionarily equipped to handle radiation. It would make sense to me if you were talking about pregnant women, but you know many women never become pregnant! By choice! So that would not apply. Don't get me wrong, I'm not about to sign up for that much radiation. But if someone wants to make that choice, I say don't stop them just because of their gender.
