Sunak urged to appoint minister for men

onlinethrowaway2020 · 2023-09-06T19:49:50+00:00

Not holding out much hope, but maybe Sunak will do the right thing. The UK has so many systemic obstacles against men; it's really disheartening.

Mustard_The_Colonel · 2023-09-06T19:18:47+00:00

Rishi Sunak should appoint a dedicated minister for men to champion issues such as reducing male suicide, improving paternity rights and tackling misogyny, a red wall Tory MP has suggested.

Nick Fletcher, who in 2019 became the first Conservative to win the Don Valley seat, said the government should act to mirror the existing minister for women arguing it would help improve society overall.

He highlighted statistics showing that 75 per cent of people who take their own lives are men, life expectancy is 3.7 years lower for men than women, and that 83 per cent of rough sleepers are male as are 96 per cent of the prison population.

“We need to do something about it,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour. “We are failing our young boys, we are failing our young men, we are failing society and we’re failing women and girls too.”

Fletcher pointed out that while there was a women’s health strategy and a hospital for women, there was nothing comparable for men even though 88 die of heart disease every day.

“It’s fantastic that we’ve got a cabinet member for women and inequality. “We’ve also got a junior minister, too, who looks after women. We just need the same for men.

I’m sure most of your listeners out there have got a man in their life and they want their son, their father, their husband, their brother, to do well to have a healthy life and to have a fulfilling life and be a good part of society.’

Fletcher said another issue that needed to be addressed was that only one in seven primary school teachers were male and one in three primary schools had no male teachers.

He said: “If you’ve got a young boy at home whose father’s not around, and then at school there’s no male teachers at all, it’s very difficult for him to find his way.”

Asked if another priority would be to counter the influence of misogynists Fletcher said: “Yes, we need to deal with that. I genuinely believe it’s the lack of interest in young boys, a lack of good male role models, which is why young boys are searching out people like Andrew Tate.”

He added: “If men are living a better, happier, healthier life then it is better for women too, and it’s better for society as a whole.”

MelissaMiranti · 2023-09-06T20:22:09+00:00

Tories doing good things for the common people? Ha! It'll never happen.

gratis_eekhoorn · 2023-09-06T22:09:41+00:00

I really hope that it doesn't end up being feminist institution that only tells men to cry and not be ''misogynists''

Also to some lurkers here who are more sympathetic to right than left for thinking left supports feminism while right does not, just look at this, a conservative proposing for a ''minister for men'' and while doing that trying so hard not to go against feminist narratives. Left or right, no mainstream politican (or any high profile figure really) in west dares to speak against feminism.

Yesyesnaaooo · 2023-09-07T05:07:33+00:00

I heard this live and I was on tenterhooks listening, hoping for it to go well.

I think it did, however I was struck by how timid and careful he was having to be - that’s not a criticism - talking about men’s issues in public or private is like dancing on the head of a pin.

Cyb3rd31ic_Citiz3n · 2023-09-07T05:48:10+00:00

The interview is excellent and I highly recommend everyone listening to this in the links provided below.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001q68b?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

Listening to the call-ins, the host of the show re-framed the position to be men Vs women, a Minister For Men against Feminism in the opening question to her audiance to call in with responses to.

It's as if she literally couldn't help herself but be aweful and bad faith.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001q67g?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

Because of this bad faith I am going to link articles in that confirm or refute points made.

@07:30 - the gentleman starts to talk about the Education Gap. That is, that boys are falling behind girls.

http://www.gendertrust.org.uk/gender-inequality-in-the-british-education-system/

@08:00 - the topic of gender bias in marks gets raised. The host speaks over the man to say this isn't proven.

This link talks about how since the introduction of new methods for exam implimentation, including anonymous marking, the divide between boys and girls is narrowing: https://blog.edexams.com/is-there-a-gender-or-regional-bias-in-exam-marking/

08:14 - the host interrupts to present the idea that there isn't bias and it's just girls being able to speak out and contribute more which lead to them getting higher grades. Whilst on the one hand implying that girls are inherently smarter than boys and the social systems have held girls back from reaching this potential, she does have an accidental point about boys. The system of how GCSE's are marked in the UK is well know to be pro-girls, in that boys score better when doing physical assessments over course work and exams.

Current_Finding_4066 · 2023-09-06T19:57:39+00:00

This minister needs to be a man!

matrixislife · 2023-09-06T23:29:35+00:00

For paywall sufferers.

gullsgonewild14 · 2023-09-07T15:00:14+00:00

I hope the powerful UK TERFS don't block this.

BackgroundFault3 · 2023-09-07T17:08:04+00:00

There's a poll on Twitter. Poll. https://twitter.com/GMB/status/1699642275876233544?t=PqUBaxptW7mbOSNxVXpj4w&s=19

SvitlanaLeo · 2023-09-08T15:34:24+00:00

Unfortunately, conservative minister won't protect men from gender policing.

Comments