Human Rights

I’ve typed up this article to hopefully bring some attention to the following issues. It is not intended as a comparison, nor as a complete list; rather an overview of the issues I’m aware of. If I’m missing something here, feel free to send it to my Twitter handle at @_Bennehh.

I’ll be going over the issues in no particular order as well.

Men’s Issues

Men are more likely to commit suicide

Men’s suicide rates are extremely high, with men being 3-4 times more likely than women to take their own lives: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr61/nvsr61_04.pdf – Murphy SL, Xu JQ, Kochanek KD. National vital statistics reports; vol 61 no 4. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2013.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) Available from https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/index.html

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/subnational-health4/suicides-in-the-united-kingdom/2013-registrations/suicides-in-the-united-kingdom–2013-registrations.html

UK rape definition excludes female perpetrators

UK Rape definition uses very gendered language, meaning that women cannot be charged under the definition―instead being charged under the lesser “sexual assault” charge: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/part/1/crossheading/assault/section/2

Court bias against men

This includes a higher likelihood of going to court for the same criminal charge, a higher chance of being convicted, and on average a longer sentence: https://www.law.umich.edu/newsandinfo/features/Pages/starr_gender_disparities.aspx

Men are far more likely to die in the workplace

Men are ~92% of workplace fatalities: https://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/cfch0006.pdf (Page 8 ― US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey, Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, and U.S. Department of Defense, 2009.)

Boys are falling behind in education

Boys are 30% less likely to graduate high school:

• http://www.pbs.org/parents/raisingboys/school.html (https://archive.is/28Idp)
• http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/gender-equity-in-education.pdf

From the PBS link above: ‘according to the National Center for Educational Statistics:

• • • Boys are 30 percent more likely than girls to flunk or drop out of school;
    • When it comes to grades and homework, girls outperform boys in elementary, secondary, high school, college, and even graduate school;
    • Boys are four to five times more likely than girls to be diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); [self-note: however, that this only goes for diagnoses, so many girls may be less likely to be treated.]
    • Women outnumber men in higher education with 56 percent of bachelor’s degrees and 55 percent of graduate degrees going to women.
  • According to the Department of Education:
    • Boys make up two-thirds of the students in special education and are five times more likely to be classified as hyperactive.’

Men receive fewer college degrees

https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=72

Men are vastly over-represented in the homeless population

The vast majority of the homeless in the US are men, with them being 63.7% of the homeless population: https://www.onecpd.info/resources/documents/5thHomelessAssessmentReport.pdf (Page 13)

Men are forced to sign up for the draft

Selective Service still unfairly targets men with a penalty of imprisonment and/or a fine for not signing up for the draft: http://www.sss.gov/default.htm, https://www.sss.gov/fswho.htm, http://www.sss.gov/FSdrivers.htm & http://www.sss.gov/FSbenefits.htm

 

Women’s Issues

Objectification

Objectification is still very common-place across the world, where women’s value is distilled and devalued down to their appearance rather than their accomplishments. Men on the other hand are usually valued based on what they provide: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_objectification

Catcalling and other forms of street harassment are manifestations of this, with 77% of US women under 40 being followed by a man or group of men in the past year, and 50% of US women being groped in the past year: https://www.ilr.cornell.edu/news/street-harassment-statistics

Quoting: ‘Survey findings from the nearly 4,900 respondents who live in the U.S. showed:

Sixty-seven percent experienced harassment before age 14
Seventy-seven percent under age 40 reported being followed by a man or group of men in the past year in a way that made them feel unsafe
Fifty-seven percent under age 40 felt distracted at school or work due to street harassment
Half reported they have been groped or fondled during the past year
More than half changed their clothing, refused a social event, chose a different transportation option or felt distracted at school or work due to harassment
More than a third said they were late for school or work due to street harassment
Three percent under age of 40 reported finding street harassment flattering.’

Workplace harassment is another prominent form of objectification, and is an issue that rightly gained a lot of attention with the #MeToo campaign.

Women are more likely to be victims of sexual assault

In the US, women have a 60% chance of experiencing sexual assault:
https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/statistics/enforcement/sexual_harassment_new.cfm
https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2502