Some time ago I came across an item in ‘Inside Man‘, a rather good UK publication that focused on men’s issues. In its September 2014 edition it featured an article entitled Nine out of ten people pictured in charity posters are women. (Sadly the web site no longer exists, although the article is still available via web.archive.org).
The article informed us that charities are loathe to use pictures of men in their posters and advertising campaigns because of an empathy gap that exists in the community. Pictures of poor men just don’t elicit anywhere near the same amount of sympathy as do pictures of poor women.
“So what does this tell us about public attitudes towards men, women, boys and girls? Big charities aren’t stupid. They know what sells. The top 1,000 charities in the UK raise £11.5 billion every year in voluntary donations. Charity is big, BIG business and big business knows that all of us, men and women, are collectively more tolerant of the harm that happens to men and boys. If you want to raise money, you’ve more chance of doing it if you tell people women and girls are suffering.
And what message does this send to men and boys? That we are less valued by society, that we are not cared for as much as women, that we are not as vulnerable, that we don’t need the help of others, that we are tough and strong and should “man up” and get on with our lives and not expect help when we face problems in life. Is it any wonder that men are less likely to access help and support when they need it, when the constant message that we give to men and boys collectively is that we don’t need and don’t deserve help and support from others?”
I included a link to this article in tweets I sent to organisations such as ‘Plan International’, in response to various gender-biased campaigns they promoted online.
One example was a campaign that focused on providing clean drinking water for women and girls (google on ‘clean water for women’ for many examples of similar campaigns). Clean water for poor men and boys? Not so important it would seem, though I doubt that’s because they are sitting in deck chairs quaffing Moet.
There have been other campaigns related to the effects of global warming, for example. Apparently problems such as global warming have a greater affect women/girls, with men/boys protected by way of some kind of force-field.
Oh, and if we needed a reminder as to how little a male life is considered to be worth, who could forget #BringBackOurGirls?
And then today I came across a reddit mensrights discussion thread on this same theme. It’s entitled:
‘Did many men lose their lives due to discriminatory policies?‘ (26 May 2016)
“Most international charities discriminate against men at least since 1995. In 2010 Haiti Earthquake men were denied food. Do you think such policies are responsible for many excess men’s deaths?”
It’s worth taking a moment to look at the readers comments (30 of them as at the time I uploaded this post).
The Australian Government not only provides far more more funding for women/girls with regards to its domestic programs, but now its foreign aid programs are increasingly gender-targeted. This January 2017 article, for example, discusses the Australian Government contribution towards UN Women. In November 2016 Prime Minister Turnbull advised that the resettlement scheme for those in detention centres would prioritise women, children and families. Because #genderequality
See also:
Food? For thee but not for me (27 October 2023)
Policy brief: Gender-responsive approaches to foreign policy and the 2030 Agenda: Feminist foreign policies (2023) More nonsense from UN Women
A new International Gender Equality Strategy (August 2023) Women and girls mentioned everywhere. Men and boys – huh? See my submission here
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade paper on the global theme of gender equality (undated). The word ‘man’ features once in this paper whereas ‘woman’ features 58 times.
The DFAT website includes an entry entitled ‘Australia’s international support for gender equality‘ which removes any doubt that women’s rights are up here and men’s rights are … missing in action.
Are we implicitly biased against men? New study finds a “positive” bias towards women (8 April 2023)
Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy is key to addressing our biggest global challenges (27 March 2023)
Pro-female and anti-male biases are more influential than race and other factors in Implicit Association Tests (27 March 2023)
The Power of Many, by Bettina Arndt (28 December 2022)
This tweet issued by the United Nations revisits the topic of giving preference to females with regards to the provision of emergency food aid (23 November 2022)
“In countries facing conflicts and crises, women & girls often eat least and last. Their specific needs must be prioritized in humanitarian response efforts.”
“Where women are absent, peace does not prevail” (28 October 2022) with full statement here wherein the Australian Government proudly informs the world that “Today’s topic is not one for debate. The evidence is clear that pathways to peace are paved with women’s resilience and leadership”. Cringe. Be a good boy and drink your glass of feminist Kool-aid.
Truss says she is “proud that we have rebalanced our international development budget” and focused it more on humanitarian aid, and women and girls. (19 October 2022) UK Source
Australian representative promoting a workshop on Harnessing Social Protection to Address Violence Against Women and Girls (4 October 2022) Men & boys suffer more violence but are left to fend for themselves. This despite the fact that feminists now admit that violence against women is poverty-related rather than being primarily due to men’s lack of respect for women (aka Gender Based Violence).
Istanbul Convention ratified by the UK (24 July 2022)
Bias against men in health research: one researcher’s journey from exercise science to men’s health (11 July 2022)
Why do the World Health Organisation’s gender equity gatekeepers struggle to acknowledge that masculinity can be good for health? (30 June 2022)
“Our new four-year Strategic Partnership Framework with Australia and the commitment of AU$31.2 million to core resources are vital to UN Women’s ability to support gender equality and women’s empowerment” (19 June 2022) Source: A tweet from UN Women
We Rise Together program to boost gender-responsive procurement in Thailand and Viet Nam (28 March 2022) See also the related UN Women media release
Stronger partnerships with women in Southeast Asia (1 April 2022) ‘Women Together’ is $300 million program to “focus on building women’s economic empowerment, increasing women’s leadership in regional peace and stability and realise women’s and girl’s rights with a focus on violence prevention”
Russian soldiers are committing a genocide against boys & men in Ukraine. This has been picked up by the media, but they are avoiding saying the gender. They’re just “civilians” or “bodies”. Twitter thread (4 April 2022)
Are all missing persons female? (17 March 2022) USA. To assign funding to a project you first need to acknowledge a problem exists.
WEBINAR: The case for feminist foreign policy in Asia (9 March 2022) To what extent is the injection of gender ideology into Australia’s foreign affairs appropriate? And to what extent are (predominantly male) taxpayers subsidising it? (It’s organised by these folks)
The silence about this (re: military draft) gender inequality is greatest from countries that profess to have a feminist foreign policy (Source) Certainly nothing has been said by any Australian politician or government agency.
Australia urged to put women and girls at centre of foreign policy (17 April 2017)
Ambassador of Australia for Women and Girls (31 January 2022)
“The Ambassador for Women and Girls raises the importance of addressing sexual and gender-based violence, increasing economic opportunities for women, promoting women’s leadership, the critical importance of promoting positive social norms and the rights of girls.”
A selection of foreign aid organisations that fail to address the welfare needs of men
Grevio Third Report, June 2022 (24 July 2022) A paper from EmpathyGap.uk
UK drafting plan to detain male migrants found at sea (22 January 2022)
Bias against men’s issues within the United Nations and the World Health Organization: A content analysis, by Dr James Nuzzo (2020)
UN Women – The equality of discrimination (2 September 2020) Video
Male victims entirely erased from any statistics (30 July 2020)
No money for boys and men: The truth about giving (2 May 2020)
“Put women and girls at the centre of efforts to recover from COVID-19” – Statement by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (9 April 2020)
List of human rights issues as identified/pursued by the United Nations … men are apparently missing in action. The UN doesn’t even bother to list International men’s Day (19 November) in its online calendar of events. Here’s a list of the female days celebrated by the UN (Tweet dated 5 April 2019).
See globalgoals.org and their twitter stream (@TheGlobalGoals) for many examples of sexist statements and programs
See GirlRising and their twitter stream (@GirlRising) for more of the same
See ActionAid and their twitter stream (@ActionAid) for more of the same. Note the section called ‘The Facts’ contained debunked factoids – except Point 3 (violence) which if true is also true for men, who face far more violence overall)
Upon first arriving at the web site of Project Futures the organisation appears gender-neutral. Sadly the more you read the clearer their blindness to trafficked or enslaved men becomes, despite the size of that problem in the Asian region. They also appear to be supportive of disgraced activist Somaly Mam (refer wiki entry).
Further sources illustrating and/or discussing pro-female gender bias in foreign aid programs:
It is time we remember Afghan men are also victims of this war | Asia | Al Jazeera (10 September 2021)
Women and girls are to get sanctuary in UK: Afghan females will be given priority to come here | Daily Mail Online (17 August 2021) Because “women & girls rights are feared to be in severe peril” … unlike men (killed) and boys (raped). Yes, google on ‘bacha bazi‘, dear.
Johnson accused of hypocrisy over G7 girls’ education pledge | G7 | The Guardian (12 June 2021)
Boys are more likely to be undernourished than girls: A systematic review and meta-analysis of sex differences in undernutrition (20 September 2020)
LA on lockdown – what that means for men (19 March 2020)
A simplified approach to measuring national gender inequality (January 2019) “In 91 (68%) of the 131 countries, men were on average more disadvantaged than women”
World Vision article prepared by news.com.au entitled ‘Why gender equality is about basic rights‘ only to then launch into a discussion of why (only) girls need help, and ignoring the fact that poor boys face the same challenges as poor girls, e.g. forced to work young, forced to marry young, genital mutilation, etc.
The article concludes with “All children can be vulnerable, and girls face particularly harsh realities because of their gender. That’s why World Vision has started a movement to sponsor 1000 girls by International Day of the Girl. You can join us now and help a girl in poverty live free of fear. Sponsor a girl today.” (September 2019)
Gender Empathy Gap Day (23 June 2018)
African Opposition to UNICEF’s Mass Infant Circumcision Campaign: UNICEF responds. So do Africans (1 August 2017) And when the UN does decide to ‘help’ men/boys, is this is the best they can manage?
Canada commits $97-million to Congo under feminist foreign-aid policy (6 July 2017)
How to spend foreign aid like a feminist (4 July 2017)
Ottawa unveils new feminist foreign-aid policy (9 June 2017) Canada
“The federal government has unveiled what it is calling “Canada’s first feminist international-assistance policy,” with plans to eventually ensure that at least 95 per cent of the country’s foreign aid helps improve the lives of women and girls”
Karen Straughan in The Red Pill on Boko Haram (17 May 2017) Video
Secret aid worker: Men have as many issues as women, we just don’t know what they are (14 February 2017)
“Despite cries that gender is as much about men as it is about women, most project proposals or documents referring to gender will mention women, but little about men. If they do talk about men, they do so in terms of their relations with and respect for women.”
The U.N.’s Shocking Gender/Feminist Bias: Masterpost with Links (17 September 2016)
Dear #GamerGate, UN feminism is more dangerous than you know (27 September 2015)
Gender Equality in Humanitarian Assistance (March 2015) Sweden
“A gender equality perspective in humanitarian assistance takes into account that:
• Crises affect women, girls, boys and men differently;
• Existing power inequalities between women and men exacerbates during crisis;
• Women, girls, men and boys have different needs and different coping mechanisms;
• Women, girls, men and boys have different opportunities to benefit from support; and
• Women and girls are an important resource in designing and delivering humanitarian assistance.”
Sounds almost fair. But in terms of outputs this model is imbued with gynocentric bias, which manifests itself via a plethora of programs aimed at women/girls. There are few/no programs directed at men/boys, this being rationalised through the belief that they can cope better/are less affected/that supporting them may worsen the problem, etc.
Thai Team Receives World Bank Award for Innovations to Prevent Gender-Based Violence, with more details in a blog post entitled Ending the invisible violence against Thai female sex workers (June 2016) I submitted a comment to the blog post which was not uploaded … par for the course when feminist author meets dissenting view.
“Women must believe that their safety and rights are worth defending – even when the odds feel stacked against them for involvement in sex work. Clients and police need these messages too. We must create an environment that tells women they do not deserve to be abused, that someone cares about their safety and well-being.
We are invigorated, inspired, and challenged to transform a world that perpetrates violence and blames victims to one in which freedom, safety, health and human rights prevail for all.”
Presumably written by the author without a hint of irony. Female victims matter, male ones don’t. No mention in the write-up of this project about the violence experienced by male and transgender sex-workers … why? Could the answer be ‘Gynocentrism manifested by way of feminist bias’?
Zika and Ebola had a much worse effect on women: we need more research to address this in future (20 October 2016)
Read down to see “By the end of 2015, the three West African countries most affected by Ebola – Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone – had a total of 8,703 cases of the virus in women compared to 8,333 in men. But the sex tally of those infected does not reveal the social impact of the disease on local populations.”
Take five with Joy Chebet Bii: Why does digital literacy matter for women and girls? (4 October 2016) Girls get taught to code, boys can watch on
Defining, Demonstrating, & Understanding Male Disposability (30 September 2016)
Iconic Australian charity changes its name to ‘Ourtown’ in 2016 after 55 years as ‘Boystown’, as explained by them and as announced in a media article
Unheard Voices: Men and Youth in Thailand’s Conflict-Affected Deep South (21 September 2016) An oh-so-rare example of consideration being given to the welfare of men/boys in a humanitarian program
Meteor hits earth: Women most affected (19 September 2016) Video
How Clean Cookstoves Create Gender Equality (15 September 2016) Apparent over-reach to promote this as a gender issue given lack of evidence in either this article nor the linked source article.
Commonwealth Ministers pledge four-point plan to empower women (9 September 2016)
Take a look at how fear of sounding politically incorrect forces the U.N into hypocrisy and inaction, ignoring the male education crisis in East Asia (23 June 2016) Reddit discussion thread
Teaching slum girls and female refugees to believe in themselves (17 June 2016) with related Reddit discussion thread here
5 Ways to End Poverty by Focusing on Women and Girls (14 June 2016)
Canada to turn away single men as part of Syrian refugee resettlement plan (24 November 2015) So Muslims OK, but men not OK, right?
The UN is responsible for hundreds of thousands of men starving to death through negligence (2015)
Inside Story – The silent victims of rape (28 July 2011)
The rape of men: the darkest secret of war (17 July 2011)
“… The research by Lara Stemple at the University of California doesn’t only show that male sexual violence is a component of wars all over the world, it also suggests that international aid organisations are failing male victims. Her study cites a review of 4,076 NGOs that have addressed wartime sexual violence. Only 3% of them mentioned the experience of men in their literature. “Typically,” Stemple says, “as a passing reference.””
Haitian Men starve while “Women Only” get food (1 February 2010) and UN sets up women-only food aid in Haiti (31 January 2010)
Recognizing Gender-Based Violence Against Civilian Men and Boys in Conflict Situations (2006)
See also my blog posts entitled ‘Human trafficking of men and boys + other hidden sexual violence against males‘ and ‘Gamma Bias on steroids: A submission concerning the development of an International Gender Equality Strategy‘