ACTION FOR MALE EQUALITY IN BRITAIN IN 2011

On New Year's Eve, the site contemplated on what had happened in 2010 and how it was another disappointing and bad year for equality for men.

The issue is what to do about it.

It has to be borne in mind that politicians, the central state machinery (government departments including the NHS, Cafcass, Justice Department, the Home Office and the oxymoron departments - the Government 'Equalities' Office and the 'Equalities' and Human Rights Commission) and local arms of the state (police and local councils) have absolutely no interest in ensuring there is equality for men and boys.

Joining Up

One response has to be either to set up or join existing organisations that promote men and boy's issues and believe that equality means equality for men too (and taking care not to be anti-women).

There are plenty (they are listed in the side bar on the left hand side of the page) and help in what ever way you can - whether paying a subscription, being active in the charity and help with fundraising.

Taking the establishment on

Sometimes it can be easy to moan about things without doing something about it and there have plenty of examples this year of men and organisations taking on the establishment.

The gender equality duty and the soon to be established single equality duty means that all public authorities have to ensure their services support men and boys (as well as women and girls). If they do not, there are legal remedies.

Raising the profile

One area that needs to be significantly enhanced is helping to raise the profile of these organisations, not just in the media, but by word of mouth. Using your own networks, or social media (including Facebook etc). Too many which we think are mainstream issues still remain underground with the public at large. Spreading the message is vital.

Often these organisiations struggle with public relations and variants of it. Such as writing/issuing press releases, producing/publishing research, spreading the message around to the front-line and to the public.

If you have those skills in these areas, join up.

Umbrella group

One of the overall missing pieces of the jigsaw is the lack of a central hub organisation or site for men and boys - a rival to the Fawcett Society. This site acts as a disucssion site of issues as they arise and also pushes its own. But an organisation is needed (and certainly not the awful anti-male Coalition on Men and Boys which was set up by anti-male feminists and membership is only allowed if you sign up to its pro-feminist agenda). At least a website would be a good start.

Summary

Any other ideas and thoughts are welcome of course, but we are getting nowhere fast. All those men and women who want to support men and boys in the UK, need to take the action themselves because the establishment is not interested.

A few points have been raised here and happy for a discussion on anything additional.

Posted by Skimmington 

Comments

[John kImble]

Yes Facebook and Twitter are very important. Would remind readers to please click the buttons below the posts they like to promote them.

It's good to work with existing groups, and also newspapers are still a more than useful outlet. Don't forget to comment on MRA stories on newspaper websites and send on the links to others. More importantly don't be afraid to phone newspapers and tell them about MRA stories. They want content to fill their publications and if you have a strong story and help them with it then you've a more than decent chance of being published.

One final useful area for correcting feminist lies and showing the truth is Wikipedia.

[Groan]

I,m a bit more hopeful than you seem to feel. There are more and more groups working on a range of issues. The most positive pushing comes in the areas that most concern men and women. So for instance the issues about boys education does get lots of mention (even though the action is as yet lamentable). As many parents are concerned about their sons.
Similarly Men's health has got on agendas. Although a much longer haul to achieve proper rights for fathers there has been a shift. Also the unfairnesses in divorce. These are issues that many men (and women) are behind because they are quite widely experienced. I,m hopeful that the manifest untruth in the "gender pay gap" stuff and the clear introduction of quotas and positive discrimination in employment and promotion prospects will galvanise opposition in a way that the previous "softer" methods used didn't (mainly because men were generally unaware of the opperation of "positive action" and it was rather hit and miss in application). In some respects I think the Equaliies Act and the Ministry for Women will prove own goals through making such discrimination so publicly evident.

I have to admit other areas will remain uphill not least because men (at least of my generation) are generally very reluctant to self identify as "victims" and very easily pursuaded that women need protection. In this regard the gender feminists have pulled off a strategic coup with the whole "Violence against women and Girls" thing as it is effective in slowing the growing debate about men and DV.

I could be wrong but I do detect a difference of mood from younger men, more used to view women as responsible for their actions and more vocal when they observe sexism against men, simply because they are less encumbered by my generation's belief in the "fairer sex".

Even the Coalition on Men and Boys does some good as it exposes men to some of the preposterous feminist stuff. The biggest strength of of feminist thinking in the UK has been its roots in University influencing the influential political classes. In such a closeted environment quite bizarre notions go unchallenged and to a considerable degree unnoticed by the public at large. Once made public then one can start puncturing the fanciful and dangerous ideas.

So yes keep up the challenging and spreading the word.