Discrimination against males in Separation proper provision

DarraghONeill

I'm experiencing and long, protracted, contested divorce in the family court system. I have been informed by my legal team that the males receive less in proper provisioning than females, all things being considered. This is blatant discrimination on the grounds of gender, which is illegal. I'm being treated as a lesser person because of my gender. So much for gender equality in our "modern Ireland". I would be grateful if others could share their experiences on this, and how they countered this. I expect my sons and daughters to be treated equally in the eyes of the law in the future.

Allinall

In what way specifically are you being discriminated against?

What does "proper provisioning" mean?

BlueSkyDreams

some people are more equal than others.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121047662#Comment_121047662

OP, if you feel you are being unfairly treated you may challenge the decision, giving evidence of the discrimination against you.

Link didn't work above

https://kodlyons.ie/the-divorce-mantra-proper-provision-in-all-the-circumstances/

DarraghONeill

Unforunately I have no hard evidence to prove this other than what Ive been told. All cases are held in-camera so it is impossible to compare against other cases. Challenge the decision - how?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121050148#Comment_121050148

And that is entirely the issue: there is no "hard evidence" because, despite demands for many decades for the Department of Justice to create a research unit which will analyse cases for gender discrimination, financial abuse, waiting time abuse, and all the other abuses which the family law legal process greatly intensifies (most obviously via the complete absense of enforced time deadlines which result in many cases going on for years and thus to the second problem, the enormous financial cost), successive Irish government refuse to open up the family law court system to serious analysis. "Every case is different" is the mantra, when the man on the street knows gender discrimination is rife in the family law courts.

As Helen McEntee refuses to establish such research, there are scant and piecemeal statistics about what is happening - which, of course, means that everytime somebody condemns what's happening, the government can look for statistics that it knows don't exist because it won't fund family law research in the first place! Priceless. If it funds such research, a whole raft of problems requiring money and politicial will will have to be acknowledged. Far better to just mouth lipservice to "the best interests of the child" rather than put money into creating a transparent, speedy, family courts' system that is actually in the best interests of the child by ending all the toxic homes that exist because of court delays.

All that said, the anecdotal evidence is consistently and overwhelmingly that men are destroyed in the family law courts, and that women are treated like a protected species. The fact that by talking about what happened you in court you can be prosecuted for breaching the notorious "In-camera rule" highlights the kangaroo-court nature of family law proceedings in the Republic of Ireland in 2023. You couldn't invent a more dystopian system than what passes as family law process in Ireland!

No doubt about men suffering far more, despite the token exceptions which are well publicised to give the impression of gender equality (Nevertheless, note the gender prejudice in "The husband was “very hands-on at home” and did a lot of the cooking and domestic chores." but no such sexist comment about the mother from Judge John Jordan, despite her being a multimillionaire from her work outside the home: https://www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/courts/2022/11/02/woman-must-pay-former-husband-16-million-as-part-of-divorce-settlement-judge-rules/).

The so-called "equality agenda" does not exist in the family law courts, much to the happiness of the State-funded women's rights' industry. The Irish State has form here in covering up scandals, and family law courts rife with their misandrist prejudices are just the current institutional scapegoat in the same place as the industrial schools, Magdalene laundries and all the rest. See no evil, hear no evil - which is precisely where Helen McEntee's refusal to fund research into the family law legal process rests: like the child labour, rapes, beatings, etc of the above State-funded institutions, Irish government ministers don't know anything so can't be held to account for the State-funded family law system! Like those institutions, what's happening against fathers in family law courts cannot continue indefinitely. The IHREC is the body which advises Irish citizens on taking cases against the Irish State to the European Court of Human Rights: https://www.ihrec.ie/our-work/legal-activity/

Because of the in-camera rule, it is likely that Irish law will attempt to muzzle any Irish father who wants to highlight the injustice in their case. What a travesty of inhumanity against fathers that passes as the Irish family law system. As always, if you have enough money a father could win a ECHR case against the Irish State on a whole range of gender equality and child rights' issues.

the.red.baron

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058311497/discrimination-against-males-in-separation-proper-provision

join date this month

use of tagged keywords...

mr feg located

Allinall

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121050148#Comment_121050148

Surely you know the details of your own divorce settlement?

Other cases have no bearing on whether you have been discriminated against or not.

the.red.baron

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121056639#Comment_121056639

dont be poking holes in his story

JDD

As always, if you have enough money a father could win a ECHR case against the Irish State on a whole range of gender equality and child rights' issues.

But could they? In the absence of any statistics to back up their case?

If the government won't fund research, perhaps a charity would? If the abuses of gender are as widespread as you suspect, there should be a wide pool of willing donors. There's not many male focused charities out there - Men's Shed, Prostate Cancer research etc. A narrowly focused charity set up to undertake research into the family law system here I would have thought would get some traction.

Perhaps someone could persuade an individual to undertake the research as their doctoral program?

Reporting (including reporting to a research body) on in camera proceedings is allowed, as long as members of the public cannot identify the individuals that are party to the proceedings.

I consider myself a feminist in that I advocate for women's rights (as these are the rights that effect me personally) on the basis that the sexes are equal. I abhor any kind of discrimination on gender grounds. I have a couple of friends where the father is a stay-at-home dad and I would hate to think that, in the event of a divorce, they would be treated any differently to a stay-at-home mum. That is not the kind of society we should be living in.

I'd pop in a tenner if there was a crowd-fund.