Sexism you have personally experienced or have heard of? *READ POST 1*

iptba

Similar topic to my last post: http://empathygap.uk/Children%20in%20Custody.pdf

Author: Dr Rick Bradford (independent, author of The Empathy Gap, Ref.[1])

Web sites: http://empathygap.uk (blog); http://rickbradford.co.uk (professional)

Title: Children in Custody

Synopsis

The focus of these submissions is the UK. But the gendered nature of depriving children of their liberty is a global phenomenon. It is useful to put the UK position in the global context because the UK is amongst the very worst offenders as regards the tendency to incarcerate boys overwhelmingly more than girls.

In 2019 the UN published an 804 page study on children in custody worldwide, Ref.[2]. It identifies that, globally, 94% of detained children are boys. The UN Secretary General has stated that, “deprivation of liberty constitutes a form of structural violence against children”, Ref.[3]. In view of the overwhelming preponderance of boys in custody, can we not conclude that this is an instance of gendered structural violence – against boys?

The greater criminality of boys is not the complete explanation of their prevalence in custody. In the global context Ref.[2] notes “Although girls are less likely to commit serious criminal offences than boys, the detention rate does not reflect the crime rate. More than one-third (35-40%) of all criminal offences worldwide are attributed to girls. However, only one fourth of all children (25%) who come in formal contact with the criminal justice system are girls. Finally, only 11.6% of all convicted children are girls, and only 6% of all children who end up in detention are girls” (see Figure 1 in the Notes below). There is evidence that in the UK too girls tend to be deflected away from custody to a far greater degree than boys (see Notes below).

Ref.[2] observes that “the penal system is the most gendered institution in society”. The section on Discrimination Against Boys puts England and Wales amongst the top few countries in terms of gender ratio: “In some States, the percentage of boys detained in the context of the administration of justice is close to 98% (England and Wales, Argentina) or even 99% (South Africa, Georgia)”.

Did we want to be in such company?

In some countries this arises in the context of armed conflicts or other forms of State unrest or insecurity. What is our excuse?

iptba

Author: Dr Rick Bradford (independent, author of The Empathy Gap, Ref.[1])

Web sites: http://empathygap.uk (blog); http://rickbradford.co.uk (professional)

Title: Education: The Intersection of Sex and Race

http://empathygap.uk/Education%20The%20Intersection%20of%20Sex%20and%20Race.pdf

Uses UK data but the situation may be similar in Ireland

Conclusions The extent of male disadvantage in education is not appreciated. Whilst there may be grudging acknowledgement of boys under-performance, this is not translated into policy directives as it runs countered to the dominant narrative on gender.

Recommendations The issue is too large to be resolved by a few snappy recommendations. However, the necessary first step is for the highest level of Government, including the Department for Education, to acknowledge that the status quo is unacceptable and must be addressed through policy directives. 

Caquas

This year’s Leaving Cert results confirm the system’s bias against boys - sorry, I meant “the unconscious bias in favour of girls”.

Little will be said and nothing effective will be done about this although, if girls were being disadvantaged like this, the Minister wouldn’t survive if she didn’t launch a campaign or two to reverse the trend and, failing all else, simply rig the system to get the desired results.

A report by the State Examinations Commission (SEC) says while female students do better on average than males in exams, the gender gap was wider in school estimates compared to traditional exams.

It says this was not unexpected, given that research suggests “unconscious estimation bias” in similar contexts generally favours female students.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/girls-get-leaving-cert-results-boost-from-unconscious-bias-1.4665596

Rigging the system to reverse bias against boys must not be done, of course.

The report says it was not possible to correct against gender bias during its standardisation process of schools’ estimated grades this year without “violating” commitments made over how the process would be conducted.

This bias has radical effects on our education system. Boys are increasingly rare in high points courses. Of course you don’t read about that anywhere or about the effects on professions like medicine or the law. Because it is not a problem.

iptba

And even in maths where we sometimes hear there is an unconscious bias against females, the opposite was found:

Higher-level maths is one of the few subjects where boys typically secure more top grades than girls.

However, this pattern was reversed under schools’ estimated grades this year, with girls narrowly outperforming boys.

CrabRevolution

maybe

The estimated grades are a Godsend for those who want to correct some uncomfortable patterns in education.

Another notable one was how despite the fact we've been told they've been "most impacted" and "left behind" in the Pandemic, students at DEIS and low performing schools apparently managed to close the gap with other schools and outperform their long term average when their grades were estimated and not backed up by an exam-truly a miracle.

Yet as seen in that article, estimated grades only served to increase the gap between the grades of girls and boys. Funny that....

Strumms

Yes

Years ago I worked a job that was about 60% office based, 40% physical work...

a girl was hired who was super slim, about 5’0”...a nice person, easy to get on with but not cut out for the physical aspects of the job, having apparently been adamant in the interview that she would be....which to anybody seeing her would have questioned....

ended up being a failure at the physical stuff and getting assigned 100% of all the admin / office work... nothing else...because she wasn’t up to anything else. Basically a desk jockey...

everybody used to look forward to their one desk day / admin day to work hard but physically rest their body....that day was rotated, among us all..

she was getting preferential treatment due to her being female...others were being discriminated against for being male, having to work harder because of their gender..

on asking the boss... “ we need to play to her strengths “... Jacques-Yves Cousteau could have spent a lifetime searching for those without success.

This is an incident that I suspect few here will understand given that it occurred in the UAE and the UAE is very misunderstood on western social media, but anyway...

I have been living in the same apartment block with my wife and kids for four years. I'm a shorter-than average, bald, 40 year old dad-bod male, not exactly intimidating in appearance.

In my building is a large room with several exercise machines for residents to use. The room is spacious, the machines are far apart, and it's usually empty. Most days for the past four years at around 10am I've gone there for my 45 minutes of cardio on a treadmill, as I listen to a podcast or watch a TV show on Netflix.

Around half the time I am alone. The other half there might be one or at most two other people there, of any gender. This morning, I was alone, plodding along the treadmill at a speed of 6.2, incline 6, engrossed in season 5 episode 1 of Breaking Bad on my phone, headphones in, minding my own beeswax.

All of a sudden I am tapped on the shoulder by building security who tells me that I must leave because 9-1pm is ladies only. First time in 4 years I've heard of this; it's not written anywhere.

I stop, ask him if anyone has complained about me, and he says no. I look around the room and tell him that no one is here, so what exactly is the problem? Then he tells me there is a lady outside. I ask him if he is asking me to leave, he says yes, and I grudgingly dismount the treadmill and leave the room. As I exit, I can see that there's a lady waiting outside, in her 20s. She says thank you to the security guard. I look at her as I walk out and tell her directly that I have been told to leave because she wants to enter and ask her if she has a problem with my being there. She denies that she does. Still, I leave, giving her a skeptical, disapproving look.

I call building management; they say they will investigate. They call me back 20 minutes later and say a lady complained.

Meanwhile I tell my wife that I was kicked out of the building gym. Affronted, she takes it upon herself to go down to the lady and enquires if she may have complained about her husband. The lady says no, but she doesn't like men using the gym when she's there. She is obviously not owning her action. My wife tactfully lets her know that what she did isn't cool; that in four years no one has ever complained before, even hijabi women who in the past would have been regular gym users at that time never complained, and that this is a first.

Anywho, I felt very wronged.

FishOnABike

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40521374.html

A worthy cause, but do male victims of domestic violence not exist? Independent research indicates they are just as common. Should all supports not be available and promoted on a non discriminatory basis?

silverharp

Ill take a punt that it was white men that were axed

https://twitter.com/spikedonline/status/1437743482878169089

One eyed Jack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117857051#Comment_117857051

That could have happened anywhere? “Ladies hour” or whatever is hardly an unknown concept in the West. It was the building security in any case who were responsible for your being ejected, not the woman who both you and your wife chose to take issue with… justifying entirely the reason for women to have their own times when they can use the facilities in peace.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117864239#Comment_117864239

They do, but that has nothing to do with an organisation which supports women and children who are victims of domestic violence receiving donations and support from companies like Airbnb, regardless of whatever research suggests.

I just don’t see how it’s either sexist or discriminatory, and there’s nothing to suggest that Airbnb wouldn’t support organisations which provide support to men who are victims of domestic violence, if they too were to apply for a donation through Airbnb’s Community Fund -

https://www.globalgiving.org/airbnb/

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117892804#Comment_117892804

So woman takes action to remove a man from an empty room for no other reason than that he's a man, is then challenged by -- get this -- another woman who doesn't favor discrimination, and this somehow shows that women should have segregated spaces after all. Great!

JustJoe7240

Yes

I'm going to blame new boards shyte format for possible misunderstanding the poll title. Because I appear to be the only one who voted yes.

One eyed Jack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117893037#Comment_117893037

That’s not how you framed the story originally? Originally you were ejected from the gym by building security. Whether or not anyone actually made a complaint is neither here nor there when it is the building security is responsible for ejecting you from the premises.

The only relevance I can think of that has any relevance specifically to UAE and the circumstances you describe, is in the penal code -

As amended by federal law no.34 dated 24/12/2005: shall be sentenced to detention for a term not exceeding one year and/or to a fine not in excess of ten thousands dirhams, whoever molests a female in an indecent way by words or acts in a public road or in a frequented place. shall be sentenced as well to the same penalty, any male disguised in a female apparel and enters in this disguise a place reserved for women or where entry is forbidden, at that time, for other than women. should he perpetrate a crime in this condition, this shall be considered an aggravating circumstance.

It doesn’t require any great stretch of the imagination to see how the law would apply in the circumstances you describe, but it’s more obvious application is in circumstances like this -

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi_Spa_controversy

Oh, I get it now. You’re crackers.

One eyed Jack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117893952#Comment_117893952

Well, yes, but that too is beside the point, unless you mean that I’m crackers because I can’t spot what was sexist about you being ejected from the gym by building security who explained to you that it was a women only session, to which both you and your wife took such umbrage that you decided to harass the woman you believe had made a complaint as if she was responsible for your being ejected from the gym.

I know from friends who live there that the UAE isn’t exactly a picnic for either sex depending upon their social status, but what you experienced doesn’t even constitute sexism by Western social media standards, which is I think the point you were making.

iptba

An official report on the details of the Leaving Cert can be read here:

https://www.examinations.ie/misc-doc/BI-EX-86127860.pdf

One example I'm looking at is honours maths. Between 2017 and 2019, on average 3.6% of girls and 8.1% of boys got the top grade. In 2021, with the accredited grade system, 10.5% of girls and 10.2% of boys got the top grade. Girls got a huge bonus with the accredited grade system, putting boys a disadvantage in the points race.

Padraig Mor

My young fellow (attending mixed primary school) said this morning that he hoped they wouldn't do soccer in PE today - very strange as he loves it. Turns out the (female) teacher last week decreed that only girls were allowed to score goals in soccer, and could also control the ball with their hands FFS! Equality eh!

iptba

Something similar to what happened with the Leaving Cert happened in the UK:

"A Level Awards 2021 & Their Obfuscation"

http://empathygap.uk/?p=3843

"The excess of top grades awarded to girls over boys has nearly tripled since the last exam year, 2019."

Figure 3 puts the impact of this bias in perspective. It has resulted in nearly 40,000 more A/A* grades being awarded to girls, compared to boys, than would otherwise have been the case. Given the competition for top university places, this suggests that the order of 20,000 or so places at top universities will go to girls that might otherwise have gone to boys. And this will have come about due to preferencing one sex over the other by teachers. The small biases expressed as percentages belies the potential magnitude of the impact on people.

iptba

2021 AccessMed Ireland HPAT Scholarships

We are delighted to offer 14  HPAT scholarships to aspiring doctors from disadvantaged backgrounds this year. This is only possible due to the generosity of our donors: Medisec, MedCafe, Royal College of Physicians in Ireland, MPS Ireland, Dr Nikita Deegan and several doctors who wish to remain anonymous. 

[..]

Two scholarships are reserved for female students from ethnic minority background (eg. Asian, Afro-Carribean) and/or the travelling community and one scholarship is reserved for a student with a chronic illness or disability as requested by the donors. 

https://www.accessmedireland.com/2021-hpat-scholarships

MrCostington

I hope this is the right place for this, but a pet peeve of mine is woman not thanking male motorists for not letting them out.

So, you're driving along and flash or motion somebody to let them out of a side road, or turn right. I'd say 80 to 90% of male drivers will say thanks or acknowledge it, even if just a raised finger or slight nod. For female drivers I'd say 30%. I suspect they will thank other female drivers.

A recent example, in start stop traffic, I did not move forward, instead waved a woman out of a petrol station. I was in the right lane, the female driver next to me did the same, let her out. So, I saw her make eye contact with me, to chack it was safe to go (so, she 100% sure knew I was letting her out) and she pulls out, giving the female driver a smile and a wave, and blanking me. WTF!!!

iptba

The dangerous pleasure of hating men

by Mary Wakefield

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-dangerous-pleasure-of-hating-men

Maid is well-written and well-acted, but the secret of its success lies somewhere quite different. The distinctive thing about it is that every male character is an absolute horror. I mean: every single one.

---

I think, come 2022, we’re going to need another version of the Bechdel test, but this time in defence of men. If any film or series contains not one single male character who isn’t either useless or evil, it fails. For want of a better idea we could call it the Maid test.

iptba

This came out earlier in the year so apologies if this has been posted before

Swedish study suggests hiring discrimination is primarily a problem for men in female-dominated occupations

https://www.psypost.org/2021/05/swedish-study-suggests-hiring-discrimination-is-primarily-a-problem-for-men-in-female-dominated-occupations-60699

There were 3,200 fictitious job applications sent to 15 different occupations, including four male-dominated professions — vehicle mechanic, delivery/truck driver, IT developer, and warehouse worker — and six female-dominated professions — customer service, cleaner, childcare, accounting clerk, preschool teacher, and enrolled nurse. The remaining occupations included B2B sales, telemarketing, chef, waitstaff, and store clerk.

Granberg and his colleagues found that women had higher positive employer response rates than men on average, an effect that was primarily driven by female-dominated occupations. There was no evidence of discrimination against women in male-dominated professions or in mixed-gender professions, but the researchers did find evidence of discrimination against men in female-dominated professions.

bcklschaps

Story from the Gaurdian. It's a pity the film production was scrapped (clearly the producers had a feminist/victim narrative in mind that would now have been completely debunked by the accused man's exoneration) because it could have ended up being a much more interesting film entirely.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/nov/30/netflix-scraps-film-version-of-lucky-alice-sebold-book

https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2021/1130/1264098-an-post-eliminates-gender-pay-gap/

"For the first time ever, women now earn slightly more than men at An Post."

""This is a momentous day today," said David McRedmond, CEO of An Post."

lol

iptba

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118250793#Comment_118250793

They have even paid for a Twitter ad on this https://twitter.com/postvox/status/1466091272381386753?s=21

One comment underneath:

https://twitter.com/myusefulspare/status/1467200445735124994?s=21

I haven’t checked if this is true or not?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117952550#Comment_117952550

That seems to be as crooked as hell. Boys are really up against systemic misandry in the education system.

iptba

UK police failings led to further serial killer murders

Updated / Friday, 10 Dec 2021 18:31

https://www.rte.ie/news/world/2021/1210/1266063-port-inquest/

Police mistakes "probably" contributed to the deaths of Stephen Port's victims, a British inquest jury has found.

Officers in Barking, east London, missed repeated opportunities to catch sexual predator Port after he plied first victim Anthony Walgate with a fatal dose of date-rape drug GHB and dumped his body.

—-

She said: "If Anthony, Gabriel, Daniel and Jack had been girls found in such close proximity there would have been an outcry. There would have been a lot more investigation - and there just wasn't."

Who knows.

ETA: Oops, meant to post this to another thread.

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118250793#Comment_118250793

"An Post introduce gender pay gap"

littlevillage

Wow.....just wow 😲 totally unbelievable. That Feminist rag the IT should hang their heads 😌

Just imagine if the genders were reversed??

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/rotunda-master-role-runners-up-express-dismay-at-choice-of-male-1.4839544

what they should in fact be highlighting is how come there wasn't gender parity amoung the candidates, it appears to have been 9 to 3.

iptba