The Rights Of Man

CRANFIELD AND CABLE'S HYPOCRISY OVER EQUALITY

The hypocrisy of this anti-male government knows no bounds as can be seen on their silence on one issue and their campaigning on another - all on the same day. Sexism by omission in its purest form.

This week more evidence was shown about the lack of boys going into university and that the trebling of tuition fees was putting them off from going to university. This feeds through to even fewer men going into professions and the decline of men continues into a downward spiral.

David Willetts raised this in January but has done nothing practical about it. Raise an issue and then forget about it - all for a headline.

The Independent Commission for Fees'  report set out this week stated:

The gap between working class boys and girls going to university widened in the first year of the new tuition fees regime, a new analysis of UCAS data by the Independent Commission on Fees shows today.

And while the fall in acceptances did not have any disproportionate impact on less privileged areas of England overall, young male acceptances from these areas declined over two years while young female acceptances increased.

Women are now a third more likely to enter higher education than men and the gender gap seems to have widened since 2010.

Among UK residents, 134,097 women aged 19 and under were accepted to English universities in 2012 compared with 110,630 young men. This represents a decline since 2010 of 2.6% for girls and 4.0% for boys, and a 5.9% decline for girls and a 7.5% decline for boys since 2011.

There were a few mentions in the Guardian, Independenet and Daily Mirror

Yet on the same day, Business Secretary Vince Cable issues another edict to demand that equality goes out of the window and that companies must put more women on boards, no matter if they are not the best people for the job. Discrimination against men if they are the better candidates does not count - gender is everything. Aided and abetted by organisations such as the Cranfield School of Management, an organisation that is happy to do the government's bidding for some free publicity.

If Cable, Cranfield and the government really believed in equality, they would be raising the concerns about the lack of boys going to university as much as the board issue. But because the university issue is about boys they are not interested.

Surely the Cranfield School of Management should be concerned about the lack of numbers of boys going to into management and the professions at a a graduate age. They are not - again - because they dance to the government's tune but are also blinkered by political correctness not to be bothered.

Posted by Skimmignton

Ps - here is a great post from Groan earlier on this week:

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2013/apr/10/tuition-fee-rise-poorer-boys

This is an interesting report. Once again showing males losing out in education. I can’t find the reference but there was some research done early in the life of student loans here in the UK . One basic point was that young men took more seriously the weight of the debt. Because they expected to be solely responsible for repayment in future.

Whereas females expected more help from family and future partners in paying for the loans. In
other words the females generally expected to be able to share their responsibilities either presently or in the future. This is of course a likely scenario and a realistic expectation generally in a society still organised generally on a “one and a half” pay contribution to couple’s finances.

This reminded me then of the much more extensive debates and research in the USA. There it is quite clear a number of gendered issues assist female access to HE and FE.

1.    Greater financial support for females from families.

2.    More likely to have financial support and gifts from partners (cars being common).

3.    Deliberate behaviour to partner with “successful” males able to support them. There is extensive
research on US universities as a site for females seeking good prospects for
partnership and marriage.

4.    Expectations of future earnings of husbands and their responsibility for funding their
wive’s debts.

I suspect the more extensive research in the US reflects their more open discussion of money.   

TUC AND THEIR HYPOCRISY OVER "CAMBERWELL AND PECKHAM QUESTION"

Like many bodies and organisations trying to represent many different things or groups of people, they can end with 'twisted blood' in trying to ensure do not contradict themselves, act with hypocrisy or create a hierarchy of victims.

Nick Cohen's book "What's Left - How Labour lost its way" is brilliant at showing this where he describes the tautology of the left for example, in supporting the right to self-determination of muslim fundamentalists but not knowing what to do when this means accepting their mistreatment of women. 

The TUC last year issued a report on the plight of black boys and unemployment. Very worthwhile and very worthy - an issue we should all be concerned about.

However, its new leader, Frances O'Grady wants boardroom quotas for women. So if faced with one position on a board and the quota had not been met, she would place a woman on that board to meet the quota even if the other candidate was a black male - who not only may deserve the place because he is more talented but he would act as a brilliant role model for black boys to aspire to.

This is the ideological tautology of the TUC and how their concern for black boys is pure tokenism - gesture politics at its worst.

The question to ask O'Grady is similar to the West Lothian Question - it isthe "Camberwell and Peckham Question*" - does the TUC think a girl attending Roedean school faces more barriers and obstacles in her life and career than a black boy from a sink estate going to a sink comprehensive in Camberwell and Peckham. Seems like the TUC think the girl from Roedean is worse off to me.

Posted by Skimmington

*Camberwell and Peckham is the constituency of a certain Ms Harman 

 

MIKE BUCHANAN AND THE STRIDENT ANTI-MALE FEMINISM ON DISPLAY

Mike Buchanan was on the Daily Politics show yesterday (about 18 minutes in ) about gender quotas.

The peiece instantly revealed bias of course because it does not talk about the under representation of men in the public sector.

The interview with Louise Cooper (financial analyst) showed modern day anti-male strident feminism in all its glory as she said "...and in ten years time when we have lots of women running the world we won't need quota's" 

Suzy Stride, the Labour Parliamentary candidate in Harlow was selected via the ultimate in sexism - an all-women shortlist - so again she has benefited from sexism - no wonder she is in favour of more.

I still have some concerns about Mike's argument about focussing on performance and longitudinal studies when there are many women on boards. The issue for me is much more philosophical about equality and meritocracy, however, it still remains great that Mike is out there challenging the orthodoxy. Who else would be?

Posted by Skimmington

PS The issue remains very much alive in Europe

MALE SUICIDE RISES AGAIN BUT GOVERNMENT AND HEALTH PROFESSIONALS DO LITTLE

This week, the annual suicide figures were released albeit covering up to the end of 2011:

• There were 4,552 male suicides in 2011 (a rate of 18.2 suicides per 100,000 population) and 1,493 female suicides (5.6 per 100,000 population).

• The highest suicide rate was seen in males aged 30 to 44 (23.5 deaths per 100,000 population in 2011).

• The suicide rate in males aged 45 to 59 increased significantly between 2007 and 2011 (22.2 deaths per 100,000 population in 2011)

As the Daily Mail pointed out, more men commit suicide than die in road accidents. There was more coverage in the Guardian and Independent. CALM's, Jane Powell was in the Guardian (Suicide is a gender issue)

Norman Lamb, the care services minister, said the figures caused very real concern, and they needed to be tackled "head on". This was after he launched a new suicide prevention strategy last year (if you click on the link at the bottom of the release it is broken - says it all).

So what are the issues.

Firstly, despite the biased rhetoric the recession and continuing problems in the job market will lead to more suicide and more amounts men (and women). Liverpool University showed that between 2008 and 2010, an extra 846 men had taken their lives and an extra 155 women.  When anyone from the Guardian, Fawcett Society, TUC and Labour Party state this remind them that men are literally dying because of the recession.

Secondly, the policy response in the strategy is startling and weak. If you compare the policy response to domestic abuse (c33% victims are male/66% are female) and suicide (c75% victims are male/25% are male) there are huge differences which prove once again the institutional discrimination faced by men in Britain.

For domestic abuse, the government strategy to tackle this is called Ending Violence Against Women and Girls  - and covers all genders (yes, I know, how can men be represented in a strategy called this and they get one mention). Yet the strategy for suicide is not gendered - it is not called Ending Suicide Amongst Men and Boys.

If there was no institutional discrimination and sexism against men then this is what the suicide strategy would be called.

The suicide strategy strategy's press release cannot even bring itself to mention men in the text (only in a fact at the end) even though the strategy does talk about men as the biggest high risk group. If 75% of those who committed suicide were women, it would run through it like words in a stick of rock. The strategy itself just seems full of public-sector speak with very little practical action. It looks like a tick box exercise. 

There is an argument rightly that strategies should be overarching but have gendered approaches within them if required (men and women are different and may need different approaches where necessary) so long as they do not negatively impact on the other gender. It is just the hypocrisy of highlighting gender when it affects women and not mentioming it when it effects men.

Posted by Skimmington

PARISH NEWS: MIKE BUCHANAN ON SUNDAY POLITICS SHOW

PLease follow this link for more information.

NEWS UPDATE

A few from the last week or so

BBC - What jobs are male and what are female (Mark Easton): An old one from last year that I had not seen before.

Fighting Feminism - An attack by the V Spot (Mike Buchanan)

Daily Mail - Bring on quotas for women says TUC chief (Anna Edwards)

Daily Herald - Scotland lacking in male primary school teachers (Andrew Denholm)

Evening Standard - Soho restuarant continues trend in women-only bars (Emer Martin). Unless this is a private members club then KC’z Bar general manager and entrepreneur, KC Gates, will be breach of equality laws. See pubs and clubs section here.

Daily Telegraph - Government failing female entrepresneurs (Emma Barnett): More pleas for special treatment and discrimination against men. This time from Labour MP Seema Malhotra.

Amazon - Review on The Highway Rat (Tony Iqeq)

A Voice for Men - Interview with Erin Pizzey  

Daily Mail  - Diane Abbott MP says feminism destroyed the family (Tim Shipman)

The Observer - UK's top firms more male-dominated than FTSE rivals, new data reveals (Simon Goodley)

Daily Mail - Bias in the justice system (Peter Lloyd)

Daily Mail - John Leslie says false allegations destroyed my life

Posted by Skimmington

CHRISTMAS EVE NEWS UPDATE

Sorry for slackness, here are a few from the last week or so and thank you to those who sent them on.

Daily Telegraph: So you think you know about homeless (Cathy Newman) - No one wants to see anyone homeless, man or woman, but what would be good is to see an article about why 85% of those who are homeless are men and what is to be done about them - and of course those women in the same boat. There is a lazy acceptance that men being homeless is Ok and acceptable.

Daily Telegraph: Sexual display around board table is why women won't succeed (Louisa Peacock) - Coverage of Steve Moxon and Mike Buchanan at a recent select committee.

Daily Telegraph:  How Louise Mensch and the A-List will make it harder for women (Cathy Newman) - Ms Newman is taking on the we need special treatment and discrimination against men mantle in the Telegraph.

Daily Telegraph: Will Jimmy Saville case put men off from childcare (June O'Sullivan)

Daily Telegraph: Fathers earn more, mothers earn less (Patrick Hennessy) - Proof of the strength of the family unit and the clear cause of the diminishing gender pay gap - not discrimination against women.

BBC: Five things about women in the press - Nothing about all men being portrayed as idiots or potential sex offenders.

BBC: Child Abductions up 88% - FCO press release but Huffington Post says 70% of abductions are by mothers so why is this not in the headline. If it was 70% men then the headline would 'fathers responsible for spiralling numbers of child abduction cases'.

Daily Mail: Connors' family jailed for slavery (Mark Deull et al) - Now lets never hear a story about slavery in Britain without men being a core part of the narrative.

Front Page (US): Women's Studies and the spread of men hatred (Ben Bawer)- Plus watch the link to the Toronto video to see full-on misandry.

BBC News: Teenage fathers feel marginalised - Research by Barnado's show how teenage fathers are ignored and never thought of by the authorities. Groundbreaking work by the charity not only because of the research itself but just the fact it is putting it out there and speaking up for fatherhood. The report says the authorities are "driving fathers apart from their children through a ‘culture where fathers are not valued."

Daily Telegraph: A dad is tenth most wanted Christmas present (Hannah Furness): Perhaps if their mothers had not gone through the family courts to stop them enjoying life with their fathers then this would not be an issue.

BBC: Nurse kills baby in botched circumcision and calls for a ban

BBC: Half of men to get cancer by 2027 - The story touches upon but does not delve into why there is no effective screening for men and why there is such a lack of pace in making it happen. The Men's Health Forum are as pathetic as ever, blaming men for not getting screening for bowel cancer rather than taking on the authorities who do not tell men it is available.

The Sun: X Factor glasses ex and avoids jail (Alice Everley) - Equality in British courts and this laughably weak sentence shows what happens when you have campaigns against women going to prison. The subliminal message gets to judges.

The Guardian: More protection needed in family courts (Amelia Hill): Notice how the judge mentions crimes committed by 'fathers' and others by 'parents' - I wonder if the 'parents' were mothers but it would do to mention that in the Guardian.

Daily Mail: More boys put off university than girls due to hike in fees (Laura Clark) - Mary Curnock Cook, UCAS chief executive, said: ‘The fact that women remain more likely to enter higher education than men are  to apply is a striking and worrying finding.’ So what is she and government going to do about it? 

The Guardian - Education is leaving boys behind (Ally Fogg)

Merry Xmas everyone and thank you for your support.

Posted by Skimmington

MIKE BUCHANAN AT THE HOUSE OF COMMONS CAMPAIGNING FOR EQUALITY

Last week, we mentioned Mike was appearing at the Select Committee into Women in the Workplace. Please read his comments about it (here and here) and he kindly has supplied a link (1 hour 34 mins in) so you can watch the appearance. Must see TV and shows how sensible and responsible activism can succeed.

Posted by Skimmington

SELECT COMMITTEE TOMORROW

Just a reminder from last week - Mike Buchanan, Dr Catherine Hakim and Steve Moxon are at the Business, Innovation and Skills select committee on Tuesday at 9.30am. It is about women in the workplace but from a male equality perspective, these three will argue against measures that discriminate against men.

For those unable to make it, you may be able to watch it live in Parliament TV or even the Parliament Channel will cover it.

We wish them all good luck and for once, Parliament is prepared to listen to those who don't believe in discrimination against men.

Posted by Skimmington

PARISH NOTICE: SELECT COMMITTEE APPEARANCE ON WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE

The quite brilliant Mike Buchanan, along with the excellent Catherine Hakim and Steve Moxon have been invited to give oral evidence at The Business, Innovation and Skills Committee inquiry into Women in the Workplace inquiry into ‘Women in the Workplace’.

Mike reports that the three of them will be speaking at 11.00am on 20 November in the House of Commons. It is free to attend and open to the public so any support would surely be most welcome.

As well as the issue covered extensively on this site and on Mike's Campaign for Merit in Business, there are two additional significant issues at play.

Firstly, it shows that responsible and mature campaigning for male equality and against male discrimination is starting to work. 'Responsible and mature' are the key words. With organisations and campaigners like Mike and Swayne O'Pie (who also put in a submission) with academics like Catherine Hakim and Steve Moxon willing to put their head above the parapet but also campaign and lobby with the right positive tone and approach, these issues are no longer totally being ignored and going unchallenged.

Having such a platform at a Select Committee must be one of the few occasions that male equality issues will have been aired so explicitly in Parliament.

The second issue is bias of the Select Committee inquiry itself and their assumptions. For example, here is a few of the issues it wants to look at (my comments underneath)

 What has been the impact of the current economic crisis on female employment and wage levels? 

What about the impact on male unemployment and wage levels? The latest unemployment figures show that 1.44 million men and 1.08 women are unemployed.

How should the gender stereotyping prevalent in particular occupations, for example in engineering, banking, construction, and the beauty industry, be tackled

What about the stereotyping in the public sector, education, health, care, secretarial and other sectors?

Good luck to Mike, Catherine and Steve and it really is a great breakthrough.

Posted by Skimmington