When Disasters Strike

Every time I read a sociological paper or book that claims to break stereotype and bring in latest data driven insights into some global phenomenon, I get hope that I will learn something new. But all the time I am disappointed to find either the book tells me everything that I already know (and there was no need of the book to tell me the same things) or that the book tells me some crap that is only based on their perception and not backed by any fact.  Sociologists very often try to sell their own theories as data driven.

When I read this book titled – Disasters, by Kathleen Tierney a professor of sociology from the University of Colorado Boulder, I had similar expectations. But I was greatly disappointed after reading the book as I found either the repetition of same things that I already knew (like people with special needs will need special attention and care during disasters or poor people living in more hazardous areas are affected worse), or some utter crap in the name of some forced found inequality like some gender-inequality crap. In other words, it was another disaster waiting to happen.

A Funny Gap

Her book shows that the poor and marginalized people, children and older people and people with special needs are affected differently when a calamity strikes. But that doesn’t need any ‘sociological study’ as proof. But what’s funny in this study is how she perceived and showed the ‘gender-gap’ in disasters.

She mentioned that a stark gender-gap leaves women more vulnerable during disasters. If you think that it is because of women not able to run faster or it is because of their inherent physical weakness they can’t withstand certain adverse situations during disasters, you will be wrong. Her sociological perspective was totally different.

As women today would like to disagree that they are any less capable than a man and are equally capable as men are, sociological studies can’t portray the same things that is contrary to what women would like to believe even to find a gender gap during natural calamity.

So, Kathleen’s argument to show the gender-gap in disasters from the angle of gender pay gap – that is debunked several times in different platforms globally. But sociologists don’t seem to find any other better theory to prove their perceived points.

Her only argument in the gender-bias narrative during disasters is that there exists a gender pay gap in the US that places women at a disadvantage. She said, women are far more likely than men to earn below poverty line (in the US poverty line is $24,339 for a family of four) and more than half of American children in poverty live in female-headed households. Now the problem is if these women are too lazy to go to work or too underqualified to get high-paying jobs, what will the society do?

There is another important parameter in the male income. It often includes the alimony and child-support that these men pay to their non-existent wives. So, their salary actually includes the alimony earned by the women and single moms who do not show that as their earning. So wage gap is inevitable.

Now, we need to understand that men simply don’t earn more because they are men. They acquire the earning skills and work very hard to get their wages and that itself justifies the wage differential (if any). Men take more risk and spend longer hours in work and that also justifies higher wages to men. Giving men equal wages even for the same job where women spend less hours, show less dedication and less intellect – is not even ‘equal’. That is favouring women. An equal pay to such women will only lead an organization to bleed more and will put more burden on the male workers.

Family Leave and Child Care Opportunities

The book also mentions that – “women in the US lag far behind their counterparts in other affluent countries in terms of paid family leave and child-care opportunities”. As a knowledgeable reader you may already know that this statement can’t be farther from the truth and you will always wonder how is that even gender-bias. This is because men in all countries including the USA don’t get as much paid family leave and child-care opportunities. So, here the bias she has highlighted is the bias among women in different countries and can’t be categorized as gender-bias in the first place.

But I will still not get into the debate from that perspective. I will rather ask a simply question, if there is so much of problem then why are American women divorcing their husbands in greater numbers and are breaking their families?

Also, when it is their husbands who are held responsible to pay them maintenance and child support even when these women are not contributing to their families, the money these single moms have is not because of their qualities/skills but ONLY because of their gender. A pertinent question at this point of discussion is, how does this matter in disaster situations? Still women get higher work from home opportunities compared to men and that is most often enough to handle many disasters.

Sociological Parasites

So, if one thinks that there exists a gender gap in disasters that is not only funny but that shows how these sociologists want to sustain bias and want to promote parasitism in the society. Nothing seems to be enough for them. The fact that this field of study is dominated by women, this kind of parasitism becomes prominent with every feminist research/study/paper or book. These studies have been the central to create more bias in society.

The Gender Insensitivity

Kathleen also tells in her book that men die more from disasters because ‘they are less likely to heed evacuation orders’. A claim not substantiated by anything, either data or any other study. A clear gender hatred is clearly observed in that statement. Men do not evacuate in time or evacuate at the end, because it is men who come first to save women and others. If men didn’t stick around in the disaster places, there would have been more casualties. If men fled the disaster spots early, more women would have died in any disaster, and disasters could have scaled to higher levels.

Simply saying that “men die more from disaster more because they don’t evacuate in time” is a highly irresponsible statement from a sociologist. The fact that it comes from a sociology professor and an author shows why such sociological study needs to be banned. Imagine what kind of hatred she may be teaching in her classes.

One Line Review

If we do a review of the book in one line, that would be – ‘Kathleen has shown a real sociological tyranny in this book’.

The book priced at $22 as ebook, $69.95 as hardcover, $26.95 as paperback on Amazon is not only overpriced but also a true disaster for anyone buying it at a price.

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