When I was growing up in the 60s and 70s there was a lot of social turmoil. There were anti-war protests by college students, blacks were marching for civil rights and women were demanding access to careers outside the home. And though blacks still have a long way to go, the Vietnam War ended and the role of women in society changed dramatically. Where once their career options were largely limited to being a nurse, secretary or teacher, today women can pursue any career they want.
Among the traditionally male careers women have entered are some very dangerous ones, including soldier, firefighter and policeman. And in the decades since they first entered these professions, women have proven their worth.
Though they are supposed to be kept from combat, the ill-defined battle fronts in Iraq and Afghanistan placed a lot of women in harm’s way. 144 died – 20 of whom had children — and many more were injured. A quick look at law enforcement officers killed since 1960 reveals that about three dozen were women, including most recently, 29-year-old Omaha policewoman Kerrie Orozco who was shot by a wanted gang member on May 20th.
The media has been full of information about Ms. Orozco. The stepmother of two, Kerrie had given birth prematurely in February but had put off taking maternity leave until her baby was well enough to come home. This homecoming was supposed to happen the day after she was killed by a bullet that struck just above her protective vest.
It’s always tragic when someone dies in the line of duty, but when it’s a young mother who was active in her community it especially catches the public’s attention. As well it should – mothers are, well, mothers and have a special place in life and society.
If Kerrie Orozco had been forced to confront a violent gang member before her premature baby had even come home from the hospital the country – and large parts of the world – would be outraged. But from all accounts Orozco loved her work and wanted to go back to it as soon as she could. Being a policewoman was her choice; she knew the dangers and it was her decision to make this profession her line of work.
There was a time when the prospect of a young mother participating in anything as dangerous as arresting fugitives would have been unthinkable. And it’s hard to escape the instinctive feeling that mothers shouldn’t be in these situations.
But what should be done? Should our society reverse course and prevent women from serving in jobs that could endanger them? What about jobs with a dangerous working environment, including farm work? Or what about working in areas that are dangerous, even if their job itself isn’t?
And who exactly gets to decide which jobs women can and can’t have? Voters? Politicians? Men? Where is the line between what women can and can’t do drawn? These are questions women have been asking since at least the early 1800s and though it’s taken time to emerge, the answer has been that women – like men – are entitled to make their own decisions rather than have society decide for them.
Nothing in life is clear-cut – women have to weigh even more factors when choosing a career path than men do. Kerrie Orozco made the choice to serve her community knowing there were risks. And while it’s tragic that those risks claimed her life, it would have been tragic in another way had the freedom to make her own choices been denied her simply because she was a woman.