The Rights Of Man

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A DISCRIMINATED MAN (Afternoon) by JAMIE WATT

Second in a series of three describing a day in the life of a discrimiated man. (Morning is here)

Part Two – Afternoon

Once again being unable to pick his children up from school, John has to make other arrangements. The school timetable is not helpful to fathers in John’s position who find themselves increasingly left out of their child’s education. This, along with the low numbers of male primary school teachers means that fewer children have male mentors or role models. Statistics show that mother-headed homes often produce child criminals, and children who grow up not living with their father do less well in their studies. Leave from work for men who have just become fathers is also substantially less than for women.

When thinking about his situation, John realises that women who complain about inequality have very little to base what they say on. Men are often portrayed as dim in the media, in some news stories and particularly in advertisements, yet in today’s culture several women have gained celebrity status for being dumb. Men are always blighted by negative press coverage, for example a stalker featured in the news is rarely female.

Aside from the Equal Opportunities Commission, John has few places to turn with his concerns. There are several support groups widely available to women, such as women’s refuge centres, women’s hostels, single mothers, lesbian lines, and women’s branches of social services, yet the only male support groups widely available are only aimed at gay men. Also, there are radio stations that have programmes like women’s hour but there is no men’s hour.

Wherever John turns there seems to be some form of discrimination, and there is no real opportunity to change this. Women have the lifestyle options of work, housewife, full-time parent or part-time parent with part-time work. Traditionally, men are only given the option of work.

John has now found that women have began to assume male roles in both his home and workplace, while it remains unacceptable for him to do the same; he cannot get a drastically different job, he cannot collect his children from school, he cannot even wear an earring to work should he choose to.

All factors in this seem to be against John, from the fact that women’s insurance is cheaper and the 21st century working environment now favours women by being geared more towards relationships with power than positions of power.

By Jamie Watt

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A DISCRIMINATED MAN (Morning) by JAMIE WATT

First in a series of three describing a day in the life of a discriminated man

Part One – Morning

John returns to work after a few days off with the flu. His female colleagues are not impressed by this, and say he has only had “man-flu”, meaning that they believe he only had a minor cold and not the flu at all. This is just one of the discriminations faced by John and other men every day, despite statistics showing that men have a life expectancy seven years shorter than women, and that women account for twice as many visits to Doctors. As well as this, women have the benefits of screening processes and health targets for breast cancer and cervical cancer, while there is nothing like this for common male diseases.

Were John to decide to change jobs, he would again face discrimination as a man. Already this morning, John has had to move heavy equipment in and around the office even though there is nothing like this in his job description. The women would make fun of John if he refused to do this, but they do not realise that the vast majority of A&E cases and industrial accidents involve men.

On average, men work four hours a week more than women, and therefore pay more tax, but do not see any advantages from this. John may think about leaving his job, but his choices would be limited; very few men are successful in getting secretarial or PA jobs, and one man was refused a job as an air steward for being “too masculine”. If a woman applied for a job as a truck driver, she would be hailed a heroine, but men are often limited by their appearance, what they wear and the type of job they are after.

John would not be alone in looking for work – even though more men than women work, male unemployment is three times higher than female. There are several training courses aimed at recruiting women to certain professions, with funding available, but again, nothing of this kind for a man in John’s position.

During his break, John has to wait as he is expected to “be a gentleman”, but when playing that card, a “real lady” would wait to be offered. This is not the only time John will face this kind of unfair treatment today – although there are no statistics to prove it, it is a known fact that men have to wait longer than women for service in bars and restaurants. A prime example of this is a club in Covent Garden who were found to be letting women in for free while charging men £15 for entry. There is also a clear imbalance in the number of men able to get a taxi when compared with women. On top of this, there are also ‘women only’ libraries and swimming pool sessions, with women also wanting entry into men-only clubs. John cannot complain to the equal opportunities commission about any of this, as they have been shown to be unhelpful in these situations in the past, while all helplines and support group are aimed specifically at women.

By Jamie Watt

NEW PROSTATE CANCER TREATMENT AVAILABLE

It has been announced (link)Mediwatch have developed a new instant test for Britain's most common male cancer . Please heed the advice from The Prostate Cancer Charity.

Details can be found at their web-site (link).

SUPPORT PROSTATE CANCER WEEK 19th - 25th MARCH

From Monday, it is Prostate Cancer week which is run by The Prostate Cancer Charity (link).

Each year almost 32,000 men in the UK are diagnosed as suffering from the disease. One in three of them will die from it - one an hour

To quote their excellent web-site

"Prostate cancer was for so long a neglected health issue - neither understood by the public nor prioritised by politicians. By any dimension, prostate cancer simply didn’t register on the radar screen."

As John Neate, their Chief Executive, said that a "short-sighted and devalued NHS was compromising the care of prostate cancer patients by failing to provide them with consistent access to specialist nurses and NICE-approved treatments."

As much support should be given to this worthy charity including buying a Real Man pin badge from M&S or sponsoring Colin Jackson in this year's London Marathon.

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