Westminster, (Parliament Politics Magazine) – I was pleased to lead the debate in Parliament celebrating International Men’s Day. Sadly, we never really celebrate men and the debate which I led highlighted many of the issues that men face rather than celebrate the good that men have achieved and continue to do so.
The debate was unfortunately poorly attended with no one from the opposition speaking. Only a handful of MPs spoke including myself, on a topic affecting every single one of us.
It does beg the question why?
With 13 men taking their own life each day, 85% of the homeless population are men, 70% of all homicide victims are men and 94% of prisoners are men.
If these were statistics for any other ‘protected characteristic’ there would be demonstrations on the street, headline news every day and something would be being done about it as we speak.
So again, I ask why is this subject not getting the attention it deserves?
Is the nation unaware of these statistics, does it not care about the issue, or are many too frightened to speak out? Is it a combination of all these things?
Well, they may be unaware, but it is our job as MPs to make people aware. That is also why I joined the APPG for Issues affecting Men and Boys. The theory is that the more people know then the more things will change.
Maybe people do not care? I hope that is not the case, but it could well be. The question is why they should care? As I have said many times before if we help men, we help women and if we are helping both sexes then we are helping society as a whole.
If people don’t care, then they should and again there is work to be done here.
But what about those who are too frightened to speak. Is that why colleagues never turned up, is that why these issues do not make mainstream media. The fear of being called a sexist or a misogynist?
Women have no doubt been left behind for many centuries and the need for change obviously needed addressing. It is right that this should be continually pressed.
But that doesn’t mean we should not shout up for men especially when we read the statistics shared above.
No, shouting up for women was and still is necessary but we need to shout up for men too. Supporting women does not mean attacking men and neither does supporting men mean an attack on women.
The Equalities Minister is not simply the Equalities Minister, she is the Minister for Women and Equalities.
That surely is a contradiction.
There is also a Minister for Women and in the Health Department a Women’s Health Strategy too.
This equality we seek for so many groups in society seems to be one that does not apply to men. They are excluded from fairness; society is failing at the very first hurdle for men.
If men were not struggling like they are, if they were living as long as women, if they were not turning to drugs and alcohol at a much higher rate than women if they were not suffering one third of all domestic abuse, then maybe this wouldn’t be an issue. But it is, and therefore we need to act and the time for action is now.
We all have men in our lives and if we help men, we help women and we help society as a whole.
We therefore need the Minister for Women and Equalities to be titled the Minister for Equalities and we need a Minister for Men to work alongside the Minister for Women. And we also need a Men’s Health Strategy.
Though many may not know about these issues I believe it is my job to as chair of the APPG to continue to raise awareness and rectify this so that everyone in society gets the help they deserve.