The Illustrated Empathy Gap

By MRA-UK: A very brief bullet point list of men and boys’ issues follows. For a slight amplification of what these issues entail – but still in brief – read the Introduction to the Disadvantages faced by Men and Boys.

• Educational disadvantage of boys, from aged 5 to university.
• Lack of recognition of, or assistance for, male victims of partner abuse.
• Men’s shorter life expectancy.
• Substantially less research funding on men-only diseases compared with women-only diseases.
• Averaged over the last five years, the male suicide rate in England was 3.3 times that of females (in Wales, 4.3 times), suicide being the commonest cause of death in males under 45.
• Men have virtually no paternity rights.
• Paternity fraud is rife, is extremely damaging to men and children, but society regards it as just fine.
• Fathers are greatly disadvantaged in child contact arrangements after partner separation.
• False allegations are commonly used as a tactic against men in the family courts.
• At any point in time, one in four fathers do not live with their children (under 16), most often against their wishes.
• Only about 50% of fathers will live with their dependent children continuously to their 16th birthday.
• The bar is being ever lowered on what is regarded as sexual assault by males on females, whilst the penalties are becoming more severe. The result is that women have the power to destroy a man for minor offences or issues of perception.
• In contrast, sexual assault of males (of all ages) by females remains largely unrecognised by society and the criminal justice system alike.
• Grossly inequitable treatment of men and women in the criminal justice system. Three out of every four men in prison would not be there if they were treated like women.
• Whilst we hear a great deal about the “pay gap”, the power must surely reside with who spends the money. Women certainly spend at least as much money as men, whoever earns it.
• For full time workers under 40 years old the gender pay-rate gap is negligible.
• For part time workers the gender pay-rate gap is in favour of women (about 5%).
• Men work 609 million hours per week at paid work compared to women’s 394 million hours. Men also work for more continuous years over life. Hence, men work more and are home less – this is contribution, not privilege.
• We hear a great deal about men not pulling their weight as regards domestic and childcare chores, but studies show that totalling all work, men and women work about the same number of hours.
• Men are 96% of workplace fatalities, and are far more likely to suffer injuries at work or to get work related diseases than women.
• Women seek “equality” with men only in desirable occupations (consultants, professors, Board members, MPs, etc) not in the jobs that 99% of men do – the nasty, dirty, dangerous jobs that lead to the above fatalities.
• Men (or boys) are more likely to be the victims of violence than women (or girls) – despite the constant exhortations that we should “end violence against women”.
• Around 90% of homeless rough sleepers are men.
• 99% of war deaths and casualties are men.
• Female genital mutilation is illegal and universally reviled. Male genital mutilation is regarded as perfectly acceptable and without disbenefit to the man (it isn’t). Half a million African boys killed or maimed in the last eight years by botched circumcisions goes unnoticed.
• Female suffering is newsworthy, male suffering is not (e.g., Boko Haram – how many people know that their main activity is killing boys?).
• There is a lack of action on under-representation of men in certain professions, contrasting with the huge focus on assisting women into areas where they are under-represented (e.g., STEM, though women now dominate in STEMM).
• Male-only organisations have systematically been obliged to accept females, whilst the reverse is not true.
• History is being systematically misrepresented as gendered oppression, rather than the oppression of the many, of both sexes, by the few, of both sexes. Both sexes had to fight for the vote; both sexes had to fight to be educated.

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