The Rights Of Man

WILL 2010 BE THE YEAR OF EQUALITY FOR BRITISH MEN?

As a new year starts, it is worth reviewing the events of the past year and look forward to 2010 to see what hope there is for male equality in 2010.

2009 was a mixed bag. We had the awfulness of the Equalities Bill trundling through Parliament allowing men to be discriminated in the workplace and the recession taking its toll in increasing male unemployment (and the associated depression), particularly damaging for young men who cannot get on the job ladder and hampered by their lack of academic achievement at all levels compared to women. The Coalition on Men and Boys produced an awful paper that basically said that men are bad and are to blame for everything that affects them.

We had the continuing and wilful ignorance of male issues from the Labour Government and its acolytes at the Equalities and Human Rights Commission. In fact, both organisations did all they could spin the myths that women were more affected by the recession, that the Gender Pay Gap was leading to more discrimination against women and the refusal to accept that men are also affected by domestic violence.

On the other hand, there has been a greater awareness of the issues affecting men. The Men's Health Forum continue their good work (with others in the prostate cancer field), Families Need Fathers have opened up new centres with a growing recognition of the bias of the family courts and the ManKind Initiative speaking with more authority on the plight of male victims of domestic violence. The NPSCC also produced some authoritative work showing that abuse at home affected boys as well as girls highlighting that mothers were as involved in this than just fathers.

We also have seen what I would call an epidemic in the numbers of women falsely accusing men of rape, a concern for the men accused as well as those poor women who are attacked.  

But does 2010 bring any hope?

The only answer that can be offered is that it may do and this is dependent in large measure to the result of the General Election.

The odds are that it looks like a hung Parliament or a small Conservative majority. Whatever happens, as long as Labour, the most anti-male Government in the history of the United Kingdom, are turfed out then that has to be something positive. In addition, this will tend to allow a change in the mindset of the civil service and other public servants to one based on genuine equality not on Labour's and the Equalities Commission's Animal Farm meaning of Equality ("everyone is equal but some are more equal than otehrs") .

We can hope that the recession ends and that men (and women) can find themselves back in work. We can hope that family law reforms such as a presumption fo share parenting come to fruition and that the needs of men in education, health and domestic violence find themselves higher up the political agenda. The need for a Minister for Men (if there is to be the continuation of a Minister for Women) should be at the very least the first step (this site will be updating its manifesto this month).

We really do need some politicians especially female politicians (they are mothers, sisters and wives to men) taking the lead on this. With so many new politicians coming into Parliament whoever wins, let us hope so.

There is a risk of course that David Cameron as part of his touchy feely positioning continues to only concentrate on the needs of women and not on men. He has not made a good start with the threat of using All-Women short lists.

Whatever happens, groups wanting genuine equality for men will continue to fight and express their views, we hope that in 2010, politicians and public servants actually make the changes necessary. We just have to keep going and hope that the plight of British Men starts to receive the recognition needed. Now that would be EQUALITY.

SIGN THE SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT DOMESTIC ABUSE PETITION CALLING FOR EQUAL TREATMENT FOR SCOTTISH MEN

Two Scottish women, Alison Waugh and Jackie Walls, have put down a petition in the Scottish Parliament calling for:-

 "Scottish Government to ensure that all publicly funded action (campaigns, publications, action plans, projects, training programmes, etc.) on domestic abuse/violence are overhauled to fully acknowledge the extent to which men are at the receiving end and to address the needs of male victims and their children."

Please sign and please send to anyone you know from Scotland to sign.

This is crucial given the fact that the Scottish Government's latest figures show a clear need for support for male victims of domestic abuse and domestic violence in Scotland

In addition, there is also a new web-site called Men in Scotland on the issue.

DOES JUDGE ESMOND FAULKS THINK HUSBAND BEATERS SHOULD BE PARADED IN THE STREETS?

Judge Esmond Faulks believes that wife-beaters should be paraded in the streets and pelted with rotten vegetables. Not much argument there.

However, it is hard to imagine him saying the same if he was convicted a wife of beating her husband.

The comments in the Daily Mail article make the point.

SCOTLAND AND NORTHERN IRELAND SHOW INCREASE IN MALE VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC ABUSE

With the media and politics continuing to be very London/England-centric, it is important to remember that Scotland, Northern Ireland and sometimes Wales produce their own independent figures.

Figures over the past few months on domestic abuse in Northern Ireland and Scotland show that there is continuing to be an increase in male victims of domestic abuse. In Northern Ireland there is at least the Men's Advisory Project supported by funding from the Government and others but in Scotland the Government refuses to provide such help. 

Below is a summary of the figures from both Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Scotland

Partner Abuse

The Scottish Government's Partner Abuse survey showed that 5% of both men and women had suffered partner abuse in 2008/09 (page 1).

Since the age of 16, 21% of women said they had been a victim compared to 15% of men. Therefore 42% of victims in Scotland are male (page 10)

73% of women and 71% of men had suffered physical abuse since the age of 16 (page 14).

40% of men had not, as opposed to 21% women (page 2), reported the partner abuse they were suffering. This confirms that men are twice as likely to under-report the partner abuse they are suffering from than women.

35% of women had made the police aware of the latest incident as opposed to 8% of men (page 3)

Domestic Abuse Incidents

Last year, this site reported the growing incidence of domestic abuse against men in Scotland and how shameful it was that the Scottish Government was continually to turn a blind eye to the problem. This was because they offered no specialist services to male victims and had no intention of doing so, instead they just recognise female victims.

Incident figures (report and press release) for 2008/09 show an 8% increase in domestic abuse across the board (53,000 reported incidents).

For men:-

14% of all domestic abuse incidents are carried out on men, a 75% increase from the 8% figure reported in 2000/01 (see page 5)

There are now 2 and a half times the number of incidents against male victims then there was at the beginning of the decade. An increase from 2,873 in 2000/01 to 7,908 on 2008/09 (page 14). In addition, the number of incidents in 2007/08 was 6,753 so there has been a large increase over the year.

25-30 year old men were more likely to be a victim than any other male age group (page 6 and page 20). This certainly reflects the continuing increase in violent young women, many of whom will be taking their abusive behaviour home to their husband or boyfriend.

Female are more likely to perpetrate domestic abuse against another women than a man on another man (page 15)

Of course, the 14% figure is still far too low as these figures are based on reported incidents and do not take into account the severity of an incident nor the fact that so few men come forward. The level of under-reporting by male victims is greater than that of female victims. Not just because of the issues of pride and shame but also because the Scottish Government refuses to run any publicity campaigns encouraging male victims to come forward. The figures collated by the ManKind Initiative from the anonymous British Crime Survey give a more accurate picture where the figure is c40% as does the partner abuse survey outlined above.

Stalking

The Scottish Government also produced figures on stalking which showed that 6% of women and men were victims of stalking in 2008/09 (page 1).

Whilst females reporting sexual assault said that 96% of the perpetrators were male, those men who said they were sexually assaulted said that 48% of the perpetrators were male but 40% were female. A concept only recently emerging into the public spotlight.

Northern Ireland

The police in Northern Ireland also reported the gender breakdown of victims within their country.

The figures (table 2.4) showed that in 2008/09 there were 1,834 reported male victims (1,773 in 2007/08) and 5,436 (5,621) female victims. This shows an increase of 3% in male victims and a 3% fall in female victims. 

 

FEMALE PERPETRATORS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ARE NOT TREATED THE SAME AS MALE PERPETRATORS AS PATHETIC SENTENCING THIS WEEK SHOWS

Three stories this week have shown the sexist hypocrisy of the Government and other organisations (Equalities & Human Rights Commission, Fawcett Society et al) who deny there are significant numbers of male victims of domestic violence to be bothered doing anything to practically help or ensure they accept that victims are from both genders are supported. Never more so was this highlighted by the recent announcements on a strategy to End Violence Against Women and Girls, but not against men and boys. That's OK.

These issues also highlight the pathetic sentencing of women for cruel acts of domestic violence against men when if it was men carrying out the violence they rightly would have been sentenced for a lot longer. An issue raised on this site many a time.

The reason why this is important is that this week we have seen stories on:-

Thomas Cresswell's family receiving an apology from Jack Straw about the leniency showed to his killer Jane Andrews where she was allowed to be in an open prison such a short time (eight years) of a life sentence.

Terry Smith's attacker Alison Newman was sentenced to a sickenly bad two years (one in prison, one with a tag) for butchering him with a knife for five and a half hours. The judge states that she suffered from battered wife's syndrome (of which he denies) so was lenient but there is no evidence here that this was the case. Certainly nothing to say Terry Smith had been charged with it or been spoken to by the police. Look like the female judge took it at face value (coverage in Shields Gazette and Sunday Sun) and of course, will be used as a cause celebre for the disbelievers who think women cannot be violent. I would suggest the judgement is political because unless there is evidence, it cannot be said to be true.

Peter Hale's attacker, his wife Joanne Hale, got an abject six years for slitting his throat and stabbing him in the heart (coverage in The Sun, Telegraph and BBC).

These poor sentences are due to a number of factors.

Firstly, the judiciary as with all political parties, the establishment and multi-million pound domestic violence industry do not view or treat male victims of domestic violence in the same way as female victims. They know they cannot get away with such sentences if female were the victims, there would be one hell of backlash. They think male victims do not count.

Secondly, they can get away with passing such pathetic sentences because those mentioned above do not believe females can be this violent.

Lastly, because of three decades of social conditioning that only females can be victims of domestic violence, these sentences can be passed without comment by the media and others on how pathetic they are.

Update - Another article in Evening Chronicle shows that the judge is making it up when she says Newman was a battered women. No evidence. Read the comment from Terry3 on the newspaper's comments section. I would suggest that Terry Smith has probably been defamed by the judge.

Hattip - John Kimble

RECENT PAEDOPHILE CASES SHOW WHY IT IS NOT JUST MEN

As ever when dealing with the usual stereotype that only men can be paedophiles, this week's news has already been dominated by the Vanessa George case and yesterday's Carole Clarkecase in Grimsby.

This and the figures outlined and highlighted here before from Childline. The BBC has a thought piece on the subject.

With these stories gradually there may be a change in the way that only men can be portrayed as paedophile's. However, considering the fact that the portrayal of a domestic violence victim is still based on only female as a victims and not the other way round or both, I think this will be some way off.

STORIES ROUND-UP

Sorry been busy but here are some recent stories worth cathcing up on:-

Times - Domestic violence against men rises 167% in Scotland

Daily Mail (the great Amanda Platell) - Women Bosses

Real Clear Politics (Cathy Young) - Tiger Woods, gender and domestic violence

Daily Mail - Love cheat texts and false allegations

Scotsman - Children should know men can be domestic violence victims too

Guardian - French Government gender equality plan

Salisbury Journal - More false alleagtions

Buxton Advertiser - Women only shortlist

EQUALITIES AND HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION DOES NOT KNOW WHAT THE GENDER EQUALITY DUTY MEANS SO HOW CAN IT SERIOUSLY POLICE ITS COMPLIANCE?

Back in February, this site covered the Equalities and Human Rights Commission's Map of Gaps exercise which looked at whether local councils were providing services for women at risk of domestic and sexual violence.

The point was made that they were not producing a Map of Gaps exericse for male victims of domestic violence, a point picked up subsequently by the ManKind Initiative who were given short shrift by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission when they asked for this to happen.

Last week, the Commission issued compliance notices against three councils for not having a Gender Equality Duty plus 14 who were likely to be in breach of the Gender Equality Duty for not providing services for female victims of violence and a further 56 for possible breaches. Still nothing on whether councils are breaching the Gender Equality Duty failing to support male victims.

What is more sinister is how the Equalities and Human Rights Commission does not even understand (or pretends not to understand) how the Gender Equality Duty works and how it is to be applied even though under the Sex Discrimination Act it is the quasi-legal authority responsible for policing it. 

The Gender Equality means that all statutory authorities (police, councils, NHS, Government etc) have to ensure they meets the needs of both men and women within their communities. Each authority has to ensure that it "properly investigates, develops plans and delivers services for both genders." It is why the ManKind Initiative I presume complained about the lack of support for male victims of domestic violence.

However, read through the press release (link in paragraph three) again. 

It only mentions that the Gender Equality Duty means councils have to provide services for female victims of violence, when they have a duty for men as well.

Saving the worst to last, under Notes to Editors it says

"...this includes publishing a Gender Equality Scheme by April 2007, gathering information and consulting on the gender equality needs of their community and developing a plan for implementing services specifically for women."

This is not true, it also applies to servcies for men as well.

It is clear that the Equalities and Human Rights Commission does not know what the Gender Equality Duty means even though it is meant to police compliance with it.

Or the most likely reason is that it full well knows what it means but is not interested in ensuring it also applies to men and is not interesting in policing it when there are breaches in the Duty when it is relating to men.

It is almost Stalinist, as if they are trying to re-write the Duty and expunge any mention that it applies to both genders. Even to the extent that the so-called Director of Legal Enforcement puts her name to a press notice that is not telling the media and the public the truth about the remit of the Duty.

It says all you need to know about how equal the Equalities and Human Rights Commission is.

 

ONE IN THREE CAMPAIGN - MALE VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

There are some excellent web-sites and campaigns available around the world highlighting the issue of male victims of domestic violence. Amen in Ireland is superb as is One in Three in Australia, launched neatly at the time of the start of national domestic violence week.

Let us hope some sites are improved in the UK. The Esteem site is good and the ManKind Initiative site is undergoing a refresh I had heard. The Men's Advice Line (you would hope so considering the amount of public cash they get) is clear but the Dyn Project site could do with some work.

Hat tip: Groan

STORIES ROUND-UP

Below are some links to stories found but not yet covered over the past few weeks. Still some more to write up (thak you everyone for sending issues over).

Daily Mail (Liz Hull): Myth of 'Mr Useless'

The Independent (Susie Mesure): March of the new Feminists

Diamond Car Company: Women-only garages (which would be illegal by the way)

Daily Mail (Luke Salkeld): Women who cried rape 8 times spared jail

The Observer (Richard Reeves): Hard for dads as well as working mothers