The Rights Of Man

MORE RECOGNITION ON THE PLIGHT OF BOYS IN BRITISH SCHOOLS - BUT IS IT GROUNDHOG DAY?

The lack of male teachers has always been a strong theme here, an issue ignored for too long by policymakers who want to do nothing that could be seen as being helpful to men/boys.

This has left a dearth of male role models in school especially at a primary level, even more serious if after is not in the home (barred by the family courts/CSA as much as anything else) and has made some contribution to the continuing problem of boys falling way behind girls at school.

The lack of male teachers has not been helped by the "all men are potential paedophiles" atmosphere we live in. So much so that 25% of primary schools (4,700) do not have a male teacher.

The latest GSCE results show the damage done to two generations of boys education when exam-based O-levels (boy friendly because of their pressurised and competitive nature) were replaced with coursework and continuous assessment (girl friendly) and will still take decades to close (check out the amazingly warped last para in this Guardian article!). Boys are ahead/level at maths but way behind girls at English at 11 (Telegraph, Guardian, Daily Mail)

However, there is change on the horizon to ensure another generation of boys are not blighted by an education system that does not meet their needs thereby relegating them to second class status.

Firstly, there is a report by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission due to be published tomorrow which highlights the gender gap. It will be an interesting read especially in what it proposes in the support for boys because the Commission is notoriously anti-male and has done nothing in its three year existence to highlight or take action on discrimination against men and boys.

Secondly, the AQA exam board will offer only exam-based GCSE's, at last giving parents of boys the opportunity and choice on an exam system that suits their sons, rather than have to put up with an exam-system that only favours girls (girls and boys should be able to choose exam boards so they can sit courses that suit their relative strengths).

Thirdly, there are groups like this trying to attact more male teachers into primary schools and that there is more proactive studies (Standard, Independent, PA) and suggestions being put in place, rather than as previously seeing the problem and then not bothering to do anything about it (move along Harriet, there is nothing to see here).

Lastly, there was this cracking show (Gareth Malone's Extraordinary School for Boys) on the BBC about how to get boys re-engaged with education. What was the magic formula, er..., allow boys to act like boys.

Perhaps some progress will start to be made, maybe the change in Government has meant people are no longer scared to look at it without being hounded, but we cannot afford to see another generation of boys being left behind.

Posted by Skimmington

   

 

 

CONSERVATIVES FAIL TO IMPLEMENT MOST PERNICIOUS ANTI-MALE PARTS OF EQUALITIES ACT

This week saw the implementation of the Equalities Act which essentially merges all of the myriad pieces of equalities legalisation in the UK (including the Sexual Discrimination Act) plus add a few more issues. This was a Labour Government Act of Parliament, not a Coalition Government one.

Two of the most pernicious anti-male parts of the Act were that companies with more than 250 employees would have to publish the gap between average pay for male and female employees, and, companies would be allowed to 'positively' discriminate against employees or potential employees if one group was supposedly under-represented.

Gender Pay Gap

The gender pay gap issue is one of the most Orwellian examples of the misuse of statistics in the Western World as oft explained on the site as the statistics are spun to suggest women get paid less than men for doing the same job. That is a lie and people like Ceri Goddard, Chief Executive of our friends at the Fawcett Society (misleadingly described by the BBC as an organisation campaigning for gender equality) who said that "rowing back on the requirement for big business to take action on any differences between the pay of men and women employees is tantamount to endorising the shocking pay gap". The BBC published this but had no one telling her she is talking nonsense. However, the Government has said it will force companies to implement this in 2013.

The problem is the gender pay gap is another weapon for people like Goddard, Harman and all the anti-male people who infest our country who just want to attack men and beat us up. The gender pay gap is a myth.

'Positive' Discrimination

The Labour Government had brought in clauses to the Equalities Act that would allow companies to discriminate in favour of someone's protected group (race, gender, disability etc)  were under-represented at that company. For example, a company with more male employees could give a job to a female if a man and a woman applying were equally qualified. The Conservatives, when in opposition, opposed the wide ranging definition and to be honest opposed the whole concept. This has been well covered on the site.

It was confirmed by the BBC that this had not been implemented and was not going to be the now Conservative/Liberal Democrat Government.

That is really good news as the intention behind the Act was always to give more employment opportunities to women at the cost of opportunities to men, even though more men are unemployed.

Opportunities

It is not all doom and gloom though. There remains opportunities for men who are dicriminated against. All public authorities currently have to comply with the gender equality duty to ensure that their services meet the needs of both men and women. This is wrapped up now into a Single Equality Duty (comes into force in April 2011). Whenever a man is not being served by his council, police force, Government, NHS or any other statutory body on the basis of him being a man, that body is breaking the Act.

Summary

It is good news overall that the Coalition Government has put the brakes on the most offending pieces of legalisation but it is worth keeping a keen eye on it. In fact, it would have been better if parts the Act had been repealed because if a Labour Government ever got elected again, they would bring the clauses in the Act straight back in (it would literally be at a stroke of a pen). I can hear Harman making a note in her diary right now.

Posted by Skimmington