Division of Labor

[lupinesque]

A. Vulgarweed wrote:

> > > Meanwhile I can't think of anything that officially excludes
> > > men, except maybe matron in a women's prison or Girl Scout 
troop 
> leader.

Cindy, taking "division of labor" literally, responded:
 
> I can think of one.  Male labor and delivery nurse.  I read a labor 
> law case in which a particular hospital barred a male nurse from 
> this specialty.  Too many female patients objected to having him as 
> their nurse while they were delivering a baby.  He sued, and *he 
> lost!*  The court said gender under these circumstances was a BFOQ 
> (Bona Fide Occupational Qualification) and the hospital could take 
> customer preferences for female nurses into account in deciding how 
> to staff the position of labor and delivery nurse.  So he lost his 
> job because of his *gender.*

Yikes!  That does surprise me, and I hope it's just a case of a bad 
decision that won't be replicated too many places.  Given how many 
women I know have been perfectly happy to have a male obstetrician, I 
can't imagine that many hospitals really find their patients won't 
tolerate a male nurse in the delivery room.

Amy