Men's rights
Encyclopedia
Men's rights is an umbrella term, encompassing the political rights
, entitlements, and freedoms given or denied to males within a nation
or culture
.
Men's rights are commonly associated with but not limited to marriage, cohabitation, parentage, job discrimination, divorce, support agreements and child support.
In human rights discussions, some argue that human rights have been traditionally focused on rights for men, and not given allowance for the unique circumstances and concerns of women. In other words, "women may enjoy these rights only to the extent that they become like men." Traditionally issues between men and women are considered private family affairs, and as such not affording needed protection in the public sphere.
Since the 1970s, though, there have been women's and men movements to reassess past patriarchal systems and the extent to which they were in the best interest of men and women. Men, previously considered primariy for their role as provider, are increasingly recognized for their ability to provide nurturing and formative relationships for their children, which changes the dynamics of what is important for men's rights.
As a result, there have been several men's movements, such as men's liberation
, profeminists, mythopoetic men's movement, gay male liberation
, Promise Keepers
, and the men's rights movement
.
, also spousal support
Men's rights organizations challenge the constitutionality of alimony, temporary or permanent financial support paid to a spouse, and find family law discriminatory and outdated. In the United States there are several men's rights crusades to reform alimony at a state and federal level. Spousal support, another term for alimony, is also a men's rights issues in the United Kingdom and Australia.
Now that women make up a large percentage of the workforce in the United States, exiting laws regarding alimony have come into question. There are several men's rights organizations seeking to reform alimony at a state and federal level. States of particular attention include Arizona
, Florida
, Georgia, Massachusetts
, New Jersey
, North Carolina
, Ohio
, Pennsylvania
, and Tennessee
. A legal precedent for gender-blind spousal support, granting men's rights to alimony, in the United States was made in Orr v. Orr
, where the Supreme Court invalidated Alabama's statutes by which husbands, but not wives, were required to pay alimony upon divorce. This statute was considered a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The percentage of alimony recipients in the US who were male rose from 2.4% in (1996–2001) to 3.6% in (2002–2006) and is expected to increase as more marriages feature a female primary earner.
Anti-dowry laws
Men's rights organizations, such as Save Indian Family
(SIFF), state that men are subject to dowry harassment when women misuse legislation meant to protect them from dowry death
and bride burning
s. In India, all women who die within 7 years of marriage are presumed by the Indian homicide law to have been victims of dowry death. In some cases, while the victim's husband or his relatives were implicated and jailed, some women were determined to be alive.
SIFF is one of the many men's rights organizations in India that focus on the perceived abuse of anti-dowry
laws against men. SIFF has stated that they feel that anti-dowry laws have regularly been used in efforts to settle petty disputes in marriage, and that their helplines receive calls from many men who say that their wives have used false dowry claims to get them jailed.
Divorce
Men's rights concern is regarding their perception of unequal representation in family and divorce law.
Conservative men's rights groups in the United States began organizing in opposition of divorce reform and custody issues around the 1960s. The men involved in the early organization believed that family and divorce law discriminated against them and favored their wives.
Domestic violence
When men are victims, their needs are underserved. They may also be subject to false allegations. Men in India are subject to domestic violence, with rare police protection and no supporting governmental programs.
Since the late 1970s and 1980s men's rights activists have asserted that the incidence of domestic violence and murders committed by women is under-reported, partly due to men's reluctance to admit being victims. They state that women are as violent as men and that domestic violence is sex-symmetrical and argue that the judicial system too easily accepts false allegations of domestic violence made by women against their male partner.
Men's rights writer Christina Hoff Sommers
has commented that "false claims about male domestic violence are ubiquitous and immune to refutation".
In Western countries, men's rights activists have been vocal critics of legal and policy protection for abused women. They have campaigned for domestic violence shelters for battered men, and for the legal system to be educated about women's violence.
Men's rights activists in India state that the police and community rarely provides protection to men who have been victims of domestic violence. Out of fear of a dowry harassment complaint, men often submit to the abuse and remain in the marriage.
Men's Rights organization have also stated that the statistics regarding the number of domestic violence cases against women and dowry deaths in India are overstated.
Reproductive rights
Includes rights to fertilized embryos.
In 2003, a British woman lost her challenge against the 1990 Human Fertilization and Embryology Act which specifically states that both partners must consent to the use of their genetic material. She was attempting to gain access to fertilized embryos, frozen prior to her divorce from her ex-husband who had since withdrawn his consent. However, another British man was forced to pay child support for children conceived artificially after his ex-wife used sperm frozen during their marriage. In this case, the woman had falsely claimed his consent when undergoing the procedure.
In all but 15 countries, husbands are not required to authorize or be notified of an induced abortion. Egypt
, Guinea-Bissau
, Iran
, Iraq
, Japan
, Republic of Korea, Kuwait
, Malawi
, Morocco
, Nicaragua
, Saudi Arabia
, Syria
, Turkey
, and the United Arab Emirates
all legally require that an abortion must be authorized by the woman's husband. However, in some countries, this authorization law can be overridden if there is genuine concern for maternal health. In China the law states that a woman has no overriding priority over her spouse in deciding whether to have a child.
In the US in 2006, the court case Dubay v. Wells concerned whether men should have an opportunity to decline all paternity rights and responsibilities in the event of an unplanned pregnancy. Supporters said that this would allow the woman time to make an informed decision and give men the same reproductive rights as women. In its dismissal of the case, the U.S. Court of Appeals (Sixth Circuit) stated that "the Fourteenth Amendment does not deny to [the] State the power to treat different classes of persons in different ways."
Adoption
Fathers' rights activists seek a gender-neutral approach in which unwed men and women would have equal rights in adoption issues.
In Oregon
, a U.S. state, an adoption may be granted without the consent of a married woman's husband if it has been determined that her husband at such time was not the father of the child; in this case, consent of the husband (or father) is not required.
Child custody
Many men feel that they are discriminated against and that they do not have the same contact rights or equitable shared parenting
rights as their ex-spouse. The United Kingdom and United States were cited, with several other unnamed countries, as affected regions where child custody issues have become complicated by higher divorce rates, less father-child time, while there has been greater expectations for fatherly involvement in their children's lives. Authors of Unfamiliar territory write, "The current struggles of the fathers' rights movement can be understood as part of this complex and painful renegotiation of intimate relations against a backdrop of changing lifestyles and expectations." Men seek to change the legal climate for men through changes in family law. See Fathers' rights movement by country
for more information about custody concerns.
Men's rights activists state that the divorce rate in India has sharping rose from less that 5% in 2000, which has over-burdened the Indian court system's abilities to keep pace with the number of child custody cases. They argue that men have been parted from their children, with some only allowed to visit their children at the court once a month for 30 minutes during the to several years that it can take to resolve the custody case. To provide support services to men for shared parenting rights and father's rights, SIFF created several non-governmental organization
s (NGOs).
Child support
In the United States, Fathers were awarded custody in 17.4 percent of the time, a percentage that has statistically not changed since 1994.
Fathers' rights movement
Family law
is an area of deep concern among men's rights groups. These issues vary from state to state and country to country. In India, father's rights have been a concern since 2000.
Parental abduction
Men's rights activists state that children of men of Indian descent have been abducted from their homes in Canada, the United States and Europe and moved to India, where the national courts do not recognize foreign child custody orders, the country is not subject to the Hague Convention and men accused of dowry harassment may be arrested at Indian airports.
Parental Leave
There is wide variance in parental leave provisions across 24 western countries, which are primarily European countries, Australia and the United States. The most liberal allows the couple to choose how to split the family leave time between mother and father. In the countries where parental leave is available and defined, it is generally for 2 to 12 days. Where maternal leave is available and defined, all but the United States and Australia, the period of time is generally 14-20 weeks, but four countries have extended leave periods.
Paternity fraud
Paternity fraud occurs when a mother intentionally identifies a man as a biological father, who she knows is not the father.
Estimates in the United States have ranged that there might be as many as 800,000 incorrect paternity judgement in California
alone (because of defaults). Once so judged, it is extremely difficult or even impossible to get liability for child support removed. In some cases a husband is responsible for his wife's children no matter what, even if the child is not his own.
Reproductive rights
, Paternal obligation.
The woman's right to choose to have a baby or not, determines the father's obligation to pay child support for the child's life.
Shared parenting
In India, shared parenting have been a concern since 2000.
is a violation of men's right to health and bodily integrity.
According to the University of Pittsburgh
, affirmative action is "predicted to lower the performance requirement for women and result in reverse discrimination towards men". Many men's rights groups lament the higher rates of admission for women at prestigious universities like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Equal treatment and protection under the law
United States sentencing disparities. In 2011, California lawmakers, headed by state senator Carol Liu
, implemented a policy to release female inmates who are parents, convicted of non-violent, non-sexual and non-child related crimes, which they have deemed “primary caregivers" despite not having custody due to being in jail. Robert Oakes, legislative director for Liu, stated about Liu's goal: “In crafting the bill, her intent was to single out female inmates with children...But that could not be done because of a constitutional ban against gender-based discrimination. So the phrase ‘primary caregiver’ was added to the bill.” The program is currently only being offered to women. It is believed that similar actions will be extended to men at some point in the future, although no date has been set.
Immigration
/ Refugees
In Australian immigration policy a distinction is regularly made between women and children (often treated erroneously as equivalent to "family groups") and single men. The details are subject to current debate and recently failed legislation (August 2006) in the Australian Parliament. But for example in one recent case, former Minister for Immigration, Senator Amanda Vanstone, determined as follows concerning Papuan asylum seekers: "The single men on the boat would be sent to an immigration detention centre, but families would not be split up and would be housed in facilities in the community".
Military conscription
The men's rights movement has argued that military conscription of men is an example of oppression of men.
In 1971 in the United States, draft resisters initiated a class-action suit alleging that male only conscription violated men's rights to equal protection under the US constitution. When the case reached the Supreme Court in 1981, they were supported by a men's rights group and the multiple women's groups, including the National Organization for Women
. However, the Supreme Court upheld the Military Selective Service Act, stating that "the argument for registering women was based on considerations of equity, but Congress was entitled, in the exercise of its constitutional powers, to focus on the question of military need, rather than equity.
Political representation
In the United Kingdom, where there is a Minister for Women, there have been calls for an analogous "Minister for Men". Lord Northbourne, who made the first parliamentary call for such in 2004, told the BBC that "if the government feels they need a minister to address women's issues, it should be the same for men." Northbourne's proposal was presented to the prime minister during prime minister's questions
the same year. The proposal was rejected and Northbourne and others argue that such a minister is needed, pointing to a relatively poor standard of health for men, Fathers' rights
, male suicide rates, and males under-performing in education compared to females.
Rape, false accusation
In both the United Kingdom and the United States there is concern about the extent to which there may be false accusations. Lenient sentences for false accusations and lack of anonymity for the accused are also concerns.
Sentencing for those convicted of making false allegations of rape
in the United Kingdom is often perceived as being too lenient in comparison to the severe penalties imposed upon rapists.
In most states in the United States
it is possible to get a conviction for rape without corroborating evidence. Thus the issue of false accusations of rape is very serious.
Social security and retirement
Previously, in some countries that award some form of social security or pension, women qualified for benefits earlier in life than men. However, this is currently being phased out. Australia and United Kingdom provisions are no longer offered to women born after 1955.
Widow Allowance in Australia is awarded to a woman born before 1 June 1955, with no recent workforce experience and with low income if she becomes widowed, divorced, or separated from a spouse or de facto partner (of either sex). The provision is available to women only; not to men in identical circumstances.
In the United Kingdom, women's earlier qualification for State Pension has ended for anyone born after 1955.
Rights
Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people, according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory...
, entitlements, and freedoms given or denied to males within a nation
Nation
A nation may refer to a community of people who share a common language, culture, ethnicity, descent, and/or history. In this definition, a nation has no physical borders. However, it can also refer to people who share a common territory and government irrespective of their ethnic make-up...
or culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
.
Men's rights are commonly associated with but not limited to marriage, cohabitation, parentage, job discrimination, divorce, support agreements and child support.
History
Men's rights has been traditionally defined as rights that should be afforded and protected by governments.In human rights discussions, some argue that human rights have been traditionally focused on rights for men, and not given allowance for the unique circumstances and concerns of women. In other words, "women may enjoy these rights only to the extent that they become like men." Traditionally issues between men and women are considered private family affairs, and as such not affording needed protection in the public sphere.
Since the 1970s, though, there have been women's and men movements to reassess past patriarchal systems and the extent to which they were in the best interest of men and women. Men, previously considered primariy for their role as provider, are increasingly recognized for their ability to provide nurturing and formative relationships for their children, which changes the dynamics of what is important for men's rights.
As a result, there have been several men's movements, such as men's liberation
Men's liberation
The consciousness and philosophy of men's liberation is split into two factions. One is critical of the restraints which a patriarchal society imposes on men. This faction is informed by feminism. The other, critical of the restraints matriarchal society imposes on men, is informed by masculinism...
, profeminists, mythopoetic men's movement, gay male liberation
LGBT social movements
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender social movements share inter-related goals of social acceptance of sexual and gender minorities. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their allies have a long history of campaigning for what is generally called LGBT rights, also called gay...
, Promise Keepers
Promise Keepers
Promise Keepers is an international conservative Christian organization for men. While it originated in the United States, it is now world-wide...
, and the men's rights movement
Men's rights movement
The men's rights movement emerged in the 1970s to address inequities in reproductive rights, divorce settlements, domestic violence laws, and sexual harassment laws. It now also includes education, other father's rights, health care, genital integrity and more. Advocates are known as "men's rights...
.
Marriage / intimate partners
AlimonyAlimony
Alimony is a U.S. term denoting a legal obligation to provide financial support to one's spouse from the other spouse after marital separation or from the ex-spouse upon divorce...
, also spousal support
Men's rights organizations challenge the constitutionality of alimony, temporary or permanent financial support paid to a spouse, and find family law discriminatory and outdated. In the United States there are several men's rights crusades to reform alimony at a state and federal level. Spousal support, another term for alimony, is also a men's rights issues in the United Kingdom and Australia.
Now that women make up a large percentage of the workforce in the United States, exiting laws regarding alimony have come into question. There are several men's rights organizations seeking to reform alimony at a state and federal level. States of particular attention include Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, Georgia, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, and Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
. A legal precedent for gender-blind spousal support, granting men's rights to alimony, in the United States was made in Orr v. Orr
Orr v. Orr
Orr v. Orr, , was a case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States that held that a statutory scheme in Alabama that imposed alimony obligations on husbands but not on wives was an unconstitutional equal protection violation.- Background :...
, where the Supreme Court invalidated Alabama's statutes by which husbands, but not wives, were required to pay alimony upon divorce. This statute was considered a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The percentage of alimony recipients in the US who were male rose from 2.4% in (1996–2001) to 3.6% in (2002–2006) and is expected to increase as more marriages feature a female primary earner.
Anti-dowry laws
Dowry
A dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both...
Men's rights organizations, such as Save Indian Family
Save Indian Family
Save Indian Family , founded in 2005, is a men's rights movement in India. It is a registered, non-funded, non-profit, non-governmental organisation headquartered at Bangalore...
(SIFF), state that men are subject to dowry harassment when women misuse legislation meant to protect them from dowry death
Dowry death
Dowry deaths are the deaths of young women who are murdered or driven to suicide by continuous harassment and torture by husbands and in-laws in an effort to extort an increased dowry. Dowry deaths are reported in various South Asian countries such as India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Dowry death...
and bride burning
Bride burning
Bride-burning is a form of domestic violence practiced in India and Pakistan. It is not the same as ancient and long abolished custom of Sati, where widowed women were forcefully placed on a burning pyre of the dead husband and burnt to death.This has been treated as culpable homicide and if...
s. In India, all women who die within 7 years of marriage are presumed by the Indian homicide law to have been victims of dowry death. In some cases, while the victim's husband or his relatives were implicated and jailed, some women were determined to be alive.
SIFF is one of the many men's rights organizations in India that focus on the perceived abuse of anti-dowry
Dowry
A dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both...
laws against men. SIFF has stated that they feel that anti-dowry laws have regularly been used in efforts to settle petty disputes in marriage, and that their helplines receive calls from many men who say that their wives have used false dowry claims to get them jailed.
Divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
Men's rights concern is regarding their perception of unequal representation in family and divorce law.
Conservative men's rights groups in the United States began organizing in opposition of divorce reform and custody issues around the 1960s. The men involved in the early organization believed that family and divorce law discriminated against them and favored their wives.
Domestic violence
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
When men are victims, their needs are underserved. They may also be subject to false allegations. Men in India are subject to domestic violence, with rare police protection and no supporting governmental programs.
Since the late 1970s and 1980s men's rights activists have asserted that the incidence of domestic violence and murders committed by women is under-reported, partly due to men's reluctance to admit being victims. They state that women are as violent as men and that domestic violence is sex-symmetrical and argue that the judicial system too easily accepts false allegations of domestic violence made by women against their male partner.
Men's rights writer Christina Hoff Sommers
Christina Hoff Sommers
Christina Hoff Sommers is an American author and former philosophy professor who is known for her critique of late 20th century feminism, and her writings about feminism in contemporary American culture...
has commented that "false claims about male domestic violence are ubiquitous and immune to refutation".
In Western countries, men's rights activists have been vocal critics of legal and policy protection for abused women. They have campaigned for domestic violence shelters for battered men, and for the legal system to be educated about women's violence.
Men's rights activists in India state that the police and community rarely provides protection to men who have been victims of domestic violence. Out of fear of a dowry harassment complaint, men often submit to the abuse and remain in the marriage.
Men's Rights organization have also stated that the statistics regarding the number of domestic violence cases against women and dowry deaths in India are overstated.
Reproductive rights
Reproductive rights
Reproductive rights are legal rights and freedoms relating to reproduction and reproductive health. The World Health Organization defines reproductive rights as follows:...
Includes rights to fertilized embryos.
In 2003, a British woman lost her challenge against the 1990 Human Fertilization and Embryology Act which specifically states that both partners must consent to the use of their genetic material. She was attempting to gain access to fertilized embryos, frozen prior to her divorce from her ex-husband who had since withdrawn his consent. However, another British man was forced to pay child support for children conceived artificially after his ex-wife used sperm frozen during their marriage. In this case, the woman had falsely claimed his consent when undergoing the procedure.
Father's rights
Abortion, Paternal rightsPaternal rights and abortion
The paternal rights and abortion issue is an extension of both the abortion debate and the fathers' rights movement. Countries recognizing father's legal rights on abortion have laws requiring that the male who impregnated the pregnant female either consent or be informed before she has an...
In all but 15 countries, husbands are not required to authorize or be notified of an induced abortion. Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Guinea-Bissau
Guinea-Bissau
The Republic of Guinea-Bissau is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Senegal to the north, and Guinea to the south and east, with the Atlantic Ocean to its west....
, Iran
Abortion in Iran
Abortion in Iran has been the subject of controversy for many years.In 1978 abortion was first legalized.In April 2005, the Iranian Parliament approved a new bill easing the conditions by also allowing abortion in certain cases when the foetus shows signs of handicap,and the Council of Guardians...
, Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, Japan
Abortion in Japan
Abortion is de facto legal in Japan, with some limitations.Approved doctors can practice abortion to anyone who requests it, under the name of Socioeconomic Abortion stated in Maternal Health Protection Law...
, Republic of Korea, Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
, Malawi
Malawi
The Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. Its size...
, Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, Nicaragua
Abortion in Nicaragua
Abortion in Nicaragua is completely illegal. Prior to a change in the law, which took effect on 18 November 2006, the law allowed pregnancies to be terminated for "therapeutic" reasons, but this clause is no longer in effect.-Abortion law in Nicaragua:...
, Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, Turkey
Abortion in Turkey
Abortion in Turkey is legal until the 10th week after the conception. The woman's consent is required. If the woman is married, the consent of the husband is also required. Single woman over the age of 18 can choose to have abortion on their own.-See also:...
, and the United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
all legally require that an abortion must be authorized by the woman's husband. However, in some countries, this authorization law can be overridden if there is genuine concern for maternal health. In China the law states that a woman has no overriding priority over her spouse in deciding whether to have a child.
In the US in 2006, the court case Dubay v. Wells concerned whether men should have an opportunity to decline all paternity rights and responsibilities in the event of an unplanned pregnancy. Supporters said that this would allow the woman time to make an informed decision and give men the same reproductive rights as women. In its dismissal of the case, the U.S. Court of Appeals (Sixth Circuit) stated that "the Fourteenth Amendment does not deny to [the] State the power to treat different classes of persons in different ways."
Adoption
Adoption
Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting for another and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents...
Fathers' rights activists seek a gender-neutral approach in which unwed men and women would have equal rights in adoption issues.
In Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, a U.S. state, an adoption may be granted without the consent of a married woman's husband if it has been determined that her husband at such time was not the father of the child; in this case, consent of the husband (or father) is not required.
Child custody
Child custody
Child custody and guardianship are legal terms which are used to describe the legal and practical relationship between a parent and his or her child, such as the right of the parent to make decisions for the child, and the parent's duty to care for the child.Following ratification of the United...
Many men feel that they are discriminated against and that they do not have the same contact rights or equitable shared parenting
Shared parenting
Shared parenting refers to a collaborative arrangement in child custody or divorce determinations in which the care of the children is equal or more than substantially shared between the biological parents.- Nature and History :...
rights as their ex-spouse. The United Kingdom and United States were cited, with several other unnamed countries, as affected regions where child custody issues have become complicated by higher divorce rates, less father-child time, while there has been greater expectations for fatherly involvement in their children's lives. Authors of Unfamiliar territory write, "The current struggles of the fathers' rights movement can be understood as part of this complex and painful renegotiation of intimate relations against a backdrop of changing lifestyles and expectations." Men seek to change the legal climate for men through changes in family law. See Fathers' rights movement by country
Fathers' rights movement by country
The fathers' rights movement has evolved in many countries. This article provides details about the fathers' rights movement in specific countries.-Australia:...
for more information about custody concerns.
Men's rights activists state that the divorce rate in India has sharping rose from less that 5% in 2000, which has over-burdened the Indian court system's abilities to keep pace with the number of child custody cases. They argue that men have been parted from their children, with some only allowed to visit their children at the court once a month for 30 minutes during the to several years that it can take to resolve the custody case. To provide support services to men for shared parenting rights and father's rights, SIFF created several non-governmental organization
Non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
s (NGOs).
Child support
Child support
In family law and public policy, child support is an ongoing, periodic payment made by a parent for the financial benefit of a child following the end of a marriage or other relationship...
In the United States, Fathers were awarded custody in 17.4 percent of the time, a percentage that has statistically not changed since 1994.
Fathers' rights movement
Family law
Family law
Family law is an area of the law that deals with family-related issues and domestic relations including:*the nature of marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships;...
is an area of deep concern among men's rights groups. These issues vary from state to state and country to country. In India, father's rights have been a concern since 2000.
Parental abduction
Child abduction
Child abduction or Child theft is the unauthorized removal of a minor from the custody of the child's natural or legally appointed guardians....
Men's rights activists state that children of men of Indian descent have been abducted from their homes in Canada, the United States and Europe and moved to India, where the national courts do not recognize foreign child custody orders, the country is not subject to the Hague Convention and men accused of dowry harassment may be arrested at Indian airports.
Parental Leave
Parental leave
Parental leave is an employee benefit that provides paid or unpaid time off work to care for a child or make arrangements for the child's welfare. Often, the term parental leave includes maternity, paternity, and adoption leave...
There is wide variance in parental leave provisions across 24 western countries, which are primarily European countries, Australia and the United States. The most liberal allows the couple to choose how to split the family leave time between mother and father. In the countries where parental leave is available and defined, it is generally for 2 to 12 days. Where maternal leave is available and defined, all but the United States and Australia, the period of time is generally 14-20 weeks, but four countries have extended leave periods.
Paternity fraud
Paternity fraud
Paternity fraud refers to a paternal discrepancy or a non-paternity event, in which a mother names a man to be the biological father of a child, particularly for self-interest, when she knows or suspects that he is not the biological father. The term entered into common use in the late 1990s. It...
Paternity fraud occurs when a mother intentionally identifies a man as a biological father, who she knows is not the father.
Estimates in the United States have ranged that there might be as many as 800,000 incorrect paternity judgement in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
alone (because of defaults). Once so judged, it is extremely difficult or even impossible to get liability for child support removed. In some cases a husband is responsible for his wife's children no matter what, even if the child is not his own.
Reproductive rights
Reproductive rights
Reproductive rights are legal rights and freedoms relating to reproduction and reproductive health. The World Health Organization defines reproductive rights as follows:...
, Paternal obligation.
The woman's right to choose to have a baby or not, determines the father's obligation to pay child support for the child's life.
Shared parenting
Shared parenting
Shared parenting refers to a collaborative arrangement in child custody or divorce determinations in which the care of the children is equal or more than substantially shared between the biological parents.- Nature and History :...
In India, shared parenting have been a concern since 2000.
Health
Some authors have argued that circumcisionCircumcision
Male circumcision is the surgical removal of some or all of the foreskin from the penis. The word "circumcision" comes from Latin and ....
is a violation of men's right to health and bodily integrity.
Other items
Affirmative actionAffirmative action
Affirmative action refers to policies that take factors including "race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or national origin" into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group, usually as a means to counter the effects of a history of discrimination.-Origins:The term...
According to the University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...
, affirmative action is "predicted to lower the performance requirement for women and result in reverse discrimination towards men". Many men's rights groups lament the higher rates of admission for women at prestigious universities like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
Equal treatment and protection under the law
United States sentencing disparities. In 2011, California lawmakers, headed by state senator Carol Liu
Carol Liu
Carol Liu is a Democratic politician in the state of California who served in the State Assembly from 2000 until she was termed out in 2006. Liu was elected to succeed termed-out Jack Scott in 2008 to gain entrance to the California State Senate....
, implemented a policy to release female inmates who are parents, convicted of non-violent, non-sexual and non-child related crimes, which they have deemed “primary caregivers" despite not having custody due to being in jail. Robert Oakes, legislative director for Liu, stated about Liu's goal: “In crafting the bill, her intent was to single out female inmates with children...But that could not be done because of a constitutional ban against gender-based discrimination. So the phrase ‘primary caregiver’ was added to the bill.” The program is currently only being offered to women. It is believed that similar actions will be extended to men at some point in the future, although no date has been set.
Immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
/ Refugees
In Australian immigration policy a distinction is regularly made between women and children (often treated erroneously as equivalent to "family groups") and single men. The details are subject to current debate and recently failed legislation (August 2006) in the Australian Parliament. But for example in one recent case, former Minister for Immigration, Senator Amanda Vanstone, determined as follows concerning Papuan asylum seekers: "The single men on the boat would be sent to an immigration detention centre, but families would not be split up and would be housed in facilities in the community".
Military conscription
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
The men's rights movement has argued that military conscription of men is an example of oppression of men.
In 1971 in the United States, draft resisters initiated a class-action suit alleging that male only conscription violated men's rights to equal protection under the US constitution. When the case reached the Supreme Court in 1981, they were supported by a men's rights group and the multiple women's groups, including the National Organization for Women
National Organization for Women
The National Organization for Women is the largest feminist organization in the United States. It was founded in 1966 and has a membership of 500,000 contributing members. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S...
. However, the Supreme Court upheld the Military Selective Service Act, stating that "the argument for registering women was based on considerations of equity, but Congress was entitled, in the exercise of its constitutional powers, to focus on the question of military need, rather than equity.
Political representation
In the United Kingdom, where there is a Minister for Women, there have been calls for an analogous "Minister for Men". Lord Northbourne, who made the first parliamentary call for such in 2004, told the BBC that "if the government feels they need a minister to address women's issues, it should be the same for men." Northbourne's proposal was presented to the prime minister during prime minister's questions
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime minister's questions is a constitutional convention in the United Kingdom that takes place every Wednesday during which the prime minister spends half an hour answering questions from members of parliament...
the same year. The proposal was rejected and Northbourne and others argue that such a minister is needed, pointing to a relatively poor standard of health for men, Fathers' rights
Fathers' rights
The fathers' rights movement is a movement whose members are primarily interested in issues related to family law, including child custody and child support that affect fathers and their children. Many of its members are fathers who desire to share the parenting of their children equally with their...
, male suicide rates, and males under-performing in education compared to females.
Rape, false accusation
False accusation of rape
A false accusation of rape is an accusation, formal or informally made against another individual or individuals concerning a forcible sexual assault. Detailed investigations using differing samples and methodologies have found widely differing results ranging from as high as 41% to as low as 1.5%...
In both the United Kingdom and the United States there is concern about the extent to which there may be false accusations. Lenient sentences for false accusations and lack of anonymity for the accused are also concerns.
Sentencing for those convicted of making false allegations of rape
False accusation of rape
A false accusation of rape is an accusation, formal or informally made against another individual or individuals concerning a forcible sexual assault. Detailed investigations using differing samples and methodologies have found widely differing results ranging from as high as 41% to as low as 1.5%...
in the United Kingdom is often perceived as being too lenient in comparison to the severe penalties imposed upon rapists.
- In many jurisdictions, alleged victims of rape are given anonymityRape shield lawA rape shield law is a law that limits a defendant's ability to cross-examine rape complainants about their past sexual behaviour. The term also refers to a law that prohibits the publication of the identity of an alleged rape victim.-In Canada:...
while this is not extended to the accused. The British government announced plans to grant anonymity to the accused but withdrew plans after criticism from campaign groups such as "Women Against Rape."
In most states in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
it is possible to get a conviction for rape without corroborating evidence. Thus the issue of false accusations of rape is very serious.
Social security and retirement
Previously, in some countries that award some form of social security or pension, women qualified for benefits earlier in life than men. However, this is currently being phased out. Australia and United Kingdom provisions are no longer offered to women born after 1955.
Widow Allowance in Australia is awarded to a woman born before 1 June 1955, with no recent workforce experience and with low income if she becomes widowed, divorced, or separated from a spouse or de facto partner (of either sex). The provision is available to women only; not to men in identical circumstances.
In the United Kingdom, women's earlier qualification for State Pension has ended for anyone born after 1955.
See also
- FeminismFeminismFeminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
- Human rightsHuman rightsHuman rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
- Men's studiesMen's studiesMen's studies, sometimes called masculinity studies, is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to topics concerning men, masculinity, gender, and politics...
- Paternal rights and abortionPaternal rights and abortionThe paternal rights and abortion issue is an extension of both the abortion debate and the fathers' rights movement. Countries recognizing father's legal rights on abortion have laws requiring that the male who impregnated the pregnant female either consent or be informed before she has an...
- Parental leaveParental leaveParental leave is an employee benefit that provides paid or unpaid time off work to care for a child or make arrangements for the child's welfare. Often, the term parental leave includes maternity, paternity, and adoption leave...
- SexismSexismSexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...
- Women's rightsWomen's rightsWomen's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
External links
Bibliographic- The Men's Bibliography, a bibliography of writing on men, masculinities, gender and sexualities, listing over 16,700 works - primarily from a constructionist perspective
- Boyhood Studies, features a 2200+ bibliography of young masculinities.