Our experience has shown that when it comes to standing up for their rights, women tend to be somewhat more aggressive and tenacious than men. One needs to look no further than to the fervor that women demonstrated in their attempt to obtain the right to vote. Susan B. Anthony drafted the amendment to grant women the right to vote in 1878. The amendment passed in 1920. For forty-two years, women fought tirelessly and relentlessly, and they did not stop fighting until they obtained that which they knew was right – a Constitutional Amendment stating that no person should be denied the right to vote based upon their gender.
Such is the power of women’s convictions.
Women’s desire to be treated fairly and have their rights protected is consistently demonstrated in the workplace as well. Women have fought long and hard to earn equal pay for equal work and that fight continues today. Additionally, women who are injured in the workplace will generally be extremely determined and persistent in fighting for the compensation that they know they deserve.
Sometimes Men Just Sit There and Take it!
It is this determination and persistence that differentiates, to a great extent, women from men.
While women will fight tooth and nail for what they believe they deserve, men will often be more cautious and conservative. Many men are afraid to agitate their employer and put their job in jeopardy, despite the fact that they were clearly injured on the job. They downplay the extent of their injuries being too proud to admit how hurt they really are. Then they continue working and exacerbate their injury even further.
Women, on the other hand, appear to be more cognizant of the severity of injuries or the potential of injuries to worsen and become debilitating. What a man may consider a nagging backache, a woman will recognize as a potential herniated disk that if left untreated, can become a permanent, incapacitating injury.
Dare We Say it? When it Comes to Work Places Injuries, Women are Smarter than Men
It’s not just that women file more workers’ comp claims than men on their own behalf; it is very common for women to contact us on behalf of their husbands, boyfriends, fathers, brothers and sons. In many cases, these men desperately need legal help and try to convince their wife or daughter or sister that they are okay. But they are not okay, and the women who love them make sure they get the help they need.
When we encounter a situation like this we support the woman who contacts us in persuading her loved one that a workers’ comp claim is in their best interest.
We have heard from claimants on countless occasions that they were so glad that their wife, girlfriend, mother, sister or daughter contacted us and convinced them to file a workers’ comp claim. Had they not had a determined and persistent woman to advocate on their behalf, instead of being compensated for lost wages and collecting a substantial settlement, they would have continued to work, probably in pain and in a diminished capacity, while their injuries continued to worsen until eventually, they would no longer be able to work at all.
They fought like hell, and the woman won. So the man won too in the end. Thank you to all the women who are brave and determined enough to make sure their loved one gets the legal help and compensation they so richly deserve.
