The Rights Of Man

THE FULL FONTY by JOHN HEDGES

As stated many times before, the site accepts essays and articles from those wanting to put their thoughts together.

Here is a thought provoking essay by John Hedges.

Download The Full Fonty

Posted by Skimmington

HIGH COURT JUDGE THINKS £4 BILLION DISCRIMINATION AGAINST NHS WIDOWERS IS RIGHT

Last month we reported that Iain Cockburn was taking the government to court over the fact that he received less pension because he was a widower than if he had been a widow.

While the government admitted it was discriminatory it still challenged his claim and it has won!

Yes you are right to read it. The judges said the discrimination is fair as it was "objectively and reasonably justified".

Mr Justice Supperstone,said : ‘in my view the absence of the non-dependant widower’s pension prior to the 1989 regulations was objectively justified.  

‘There is no evidence that overall female members in the scheme were in any different position to that of women in society and in the workforce as a whole.’

That is such sexism.

Such is the disdain the judiciary and establishment has for ensuring that equality applies to men too. Silence from the Minister for Equalities, as ever.

The Department of Health has said it would cost £4 billion to rectify. That shows the cost of the discrimination against men and also the discrimination against those poor women in the NHS who had died as they would not want their widowers to lose out because they were men.

When there were campaigns against women being unfarily paid less than men on the same grade at councils, if the same logic applied, then this would have been acceptable before 1988, and therefore they would not be entitled to have back their 'missing' pay before that year. Rightly nonsense, but the judges think it is OK if you are a man. 

Posted by Skimmington

Media coverage: Result covered in Professional Pensions (original story on Professional Pensions) and GP online plus background coverage in Daily Mail, Birmingham Post, Daily Telegraph

THE SCANDALOUS GOVERNMENT HYPOCRISY OVER THE GENDER EDUCATION GAP

This week the government published the SATs results (officially known as Key Stage 2) for primary school children which test their ability to read, write and add up at 11, just before they go to secondary school.

While the headline figure shows that one in three don't make the grade (level 4), the report also highlights:

There is still a worrying number of children performing at a very low level. One in 10 boys leave primary school with the reading age of a seven-year-old and one in 14 boys leave with the writing age of a seven-year-old.

The government minister (Nick Gibb) said: "We are determined to raise standards of reading. There will always be some children for whom reading is a struggle. However, we can and must do much better for the one in 10 boys who at the age of eleven can read no better than a seven-year-old."

The results in detail are:

• English 81% (86% for girls, 77% for boys)
• Reading 84% (87% for girls, 80% for boys)
• Writing 75% (81% for girls, 68% for boys)
• Mathematics 80% (80% for girls, 80% for boys).

This shows there is a clear gender education gap in English, reading and writing (not Maths) and whilst at least this government recognises it, it is doing absolutely nothing to remedy it. It says it is an issue and then walks away.

As shown, many schools are not bothered and also we know that the Equalities and Human Rights Commission and the Government's joke Equalities Department are not interested.

But more so when do you see the Department for Education running a massive study into why it is happening and then bring in policies to remedy it?

The government is bothered about the alleged gender pay gap and the alleged gender boardroom gap but does absolutely nothing to tackle the gender education gap.

It proves beyond all doubt that men and boys remain firmly second class citizens in the UK and it is a situation the government is quite happy with.

Posted by Skimmington  

GOVERNMENT ADMITS EQUALITY DOES NOT INCLUDE MEN

When the government came in, one of its key themes was to look at government departments and quangos and see who should stay, who should go and whether some should be merged or subsumed. The Government's ironically called Equalities Department was one of them and was to be subsumed into the Home Office.

The new equality pages on the Home Office website make it clear what the government means by equality though. It says:

We lead on issues relating to women, sexual orientation and transgender equality matters; we have responsibility across government for equality strategy and legislation. 

Basically, the Home Office who lead on equality for the whole governmemnt now admit that equality does not relate to men (or boys).

I know this site keeps on saying it but the government are admitting it and they see no shame in doing so. Obviously, with the same people running the equalities section of the Home Office who were running the equalities department there is no surprise but it is the lack of shame that just is eye watering.

On the same section is the annual report of the equalities department. Not light reading but worth noting that the abolished Women's National Commission  cost £500,000 per year (no such thing as a men's national commission) and 65% of its employees are women - fancy that.

Posted by Skimmington