Mens Rights Thread

volchitsa · 30-11-2025 11:46PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124032511#Comment_124032511

Reduction in physical actvity in schools compared to 100 years ago? You think? My grandmother told me they weren't allowed to even speak in primary school during classtime. And so they literally didn't speak unless called to by the teacher. It sounds far more restrictive than nowadays. They didn't do much physical activity either, not in school time. Obviously they were more physically active outside of school but that isn't the fault of today's schools.

There's a lot more going on in schools than just which gender sits still. The entire environment is different, reduction in physical activity, increase in group work and social skills, biological maturity differences which affect reading skills. Girls see more female teachers creating rolemodel imbalances in education. They are more represented.

But when women weren't allowed to be teachers, and later, when married women couldn't teach, the opposite was the case and yet girls still managed to get to a point where they were doing well even in a male-dominated system. How else would so many women have become teachers that the numbers were reversed if the women weren't doing well in school? And without female role models too.

We also see ideological approaches enforced by (feminist) teachers. That is,; when girls lag in ANY subject there is pandemonium among female educators that that gap shouldn't be there, while implementation of workshops, grants, mentorship classes, scholarships by female teachers are set up. When boys lag in any subject it's seen as a "good" gap by said female teachers, as in boys are just not as good or have lost their privileges.

That no doubt happened when girls were coming from behind, but people are worried about boys doing badly, so I don't think it's a permanent situation. I'd be very surprised if teachers think it's a good thing that boys are doing badly.

I dont think boys are behind just because they can't sit still. Itvmay be a symptomof having difficulty focusing or feeling education isnt for them.
And no, it (school) wasn't designed for boys, it was designed for boys from privileged backgrounds. Who still do quite well just not quite as well as girls, but they often go to uni. The boys who lag in school today are boys who have always lagged, it's just gotten worse.

That's certainly true, about social class - but it must also apply to girls from underprivileged backgrounds as well, so not relevant to the question of why boys in particular do worse than girls from the same backgrounds.

It just seems to me like people are taking a situation now, where there are more women teachers, and blaming that on boys' failure, when in fact the failures are elsewhere. I agree that physical activity is definitely a problem, but as I say, I don't think it's up to teachers to fix that.

But I think a lack of discipline is a problem. I do agree that women, particularly those attracted to teaching and social work etc, do have a lot of responsibility for that. I'm not sure that's feminism so much as excessive empathy though.

OTOH parents seem to want that nowadays. Imagine hitting a child with a leather strap now? They'd lose their job. But it wasn't unusual when I was a child. Though I feel like it was only ever the boys that got the strap. The teacher who gave the strap was male, so was that because he didn't want to hit girls or because only boys behaved badly? I certainly found him intimidating, so I don't think I'd ever have done anything. The women teachers I remember from primary school used a ruler. I do remember getting the ruler once.

Was it necessary? I don't think it was necessary for me, but I'd say it made teaching a lot easier. I do wonder if the real problem is that we've created a school system which doesn't enable children to settle down and behave, and that boys are on average less able to self-regulate.

OldRio · 01-12-2025 09:13AM

Perhaps the problems don't start in class but at home. Maybe parents should stop shifting their responsibilities onto teachers and do parenting.

cms88 · 02-12-2025 08:45AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124032511#Comment_124032511

It's like the endless supports and events for ''Women in Business'' there is now. At what point does it all stop? Surely there can't be anymore ''barriers to entry'' anymore seeing as there are so many things available now?

BrianD3 · 04-12-2025 05:26PM

The TV ad (I think it is for Amazon) with the lad who was "sent to" the larder is bugging me. This sort of low level misandry is so embedded that I'd say people don't even notice it and it is part of culture. Men are useless and unreliable, they're like cheeky bold children who need to be told what to do by women.

volchitsa · 04-12-2025 09:51PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124042221#Comment_124042221

Yeah actually I agree with this. There is a lot of irritating sneering at men (and to a lesser extent at boys) on TV. It seems to be one of the many "tropes" that the fundamentally not-very-creative use when stuck for ideas. I suppose it takes the place of older equivalent tropes that are no longer PC - or should that be "woke"? - like racist or mother-in-law jokes. Either way, it's lazy and I can completely see why it annoys male viewers. I do think that's something that needs to be pointed out far more than it is.

chrisd2019 · 04-12-2025 10:23PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123798296#Comment_123798296

Your analysis is correct, however it doesn't suit the anti male pressure groups, so they turn things to suit their desired outcome.

chrisd2019 · 04-12-2025 10:29PM

Organisation I work for recently published its gender pay gap report, it comes out with a negative %, meaning women are averaging more, report buried in a back corner of the intranet, not surprising given that all recent promotions were given to women!

iptba · 19-12-2025 05:39PM

Ireland’s biggest law firms: Staffed by women but run by men, with one exceptionThe gap remains largest at the top of firms, notably at equity partner level among the Big Six firms

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/work/2025/12/12/legal-firms-still-predominantly-staffed-by-women-but-run-by-men-gender-pay-gap-reports-suggest/

Yet again, the word progress is used repeatedly to indicate a narrowing of the gap, not a neutral word for a journalist to be using.

“All of the Big Six emphasise in their various commentaries on their reports that they are working hard to shift the dial.Mentorship programmes, hybrid working and other family-friendly policies are among the most commonly cited measures across the six reports, with many firms interacting with outside organisations in order to tap into expertise with regard to policy measures and supports.”

One of these articles last year noted that 99% of assistants (I think that was the term used) were female. That’s going to lower the median and mean wages of female workers.

iptba · 21-01-2026 02:47AM

"The brother of a 24-year-old woman, fatally stabbed by her former partner in 2021 has addressed an Oireachtas committee that examined changes to the law on domestic violence.

Jason Poole has called on the Minister for Justice to name the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences, Domestic Violence) Bill 'Jennie's Law’, once it is commenced as an Act.

Mr Poole made the request at a meeting of the Oireachtas Justice Committee, which is examining changes to the law on domestic violence."
continues:
https://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2026/0120/1554128-justice-committee/

So this article is about the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences, Domestic Violence) Bill that is being discussed in the Oireachtas Justice Committee.

It's generally gender neutral but ends as follows:
"A total of 277 women have died through male violence since Women's Aid's first Femicide report in 1996."

No mention that many men have also died through "female violence" during that time period.
—
Edited to add:
"female violence" site:rte.ie -"male-on-female violence"
produces 0 results.

It looks like it is acceptable to refer to "male violence" but not "female violence"

iptba · 17-02-2026 06:54PM

https://www.independent.ie/business/in-the-workplace/irish-firms-among-companies-least-ready-to-implement-new-pay-transparency-rules-survey-finds/a804856588.html

“Irish firms among companies least ready to implement new ‘pay transparency’ rules, survey finds

As few as 6pc of Irish businesses are prepared for a June deadline for “pay transparency” rules set to significantly shake up recruitment and staff management, according to analysis from Mercer, which advises businesses on staffing and employment issues.”

[..]

”Employees will have the right to receive information about not just their own pay but average pay by gender for categories of employees performing the same or work of equal value.”

Another change like the existing average pay by gender rules which may lead in some circumstances to individual males suffering in terms of their wages.

iptba · 04-03-2026 12:03AM

[I'm spending less time on Twitter these days and particularly rarely look at what is trending.]

Here's the latest batch of gender-related hashtags/items I have noticed trending for anyone interested (I know some are not)

(Aside: I'm not on Twitter 24/7 of course and don't look back at lists for when I wasn't on)

I also threw in some other posts as I didn't want to post too frequently.

#WomensAidat50

#WomenInSportIRE

Women In Sport week

Sponsored byEnterprise Ireland

Wanted: Female business founders with ambitions on a global scale

If you’re a woman starting or growing a business with export potential, or an experienced professional woman who would like to, Enterprise Ireland has the supports to help you succeed

https://www.irishtimes.com/sponsored/2025/09/24/wanted-female-founders-with-global-ambition

LadyCab Launches as Ireland's First Women-Only Taxi Service in Dublin

Didn't trend but I thought I would mention:

Women’s Eye Health and Safety Month

Women’s History Month

Women-only initiative:

50 Women of Influence in Irish Sport 2024

https://x.com/ucd_sphpss/status/1859209399195037922?s=46&t=fB55_-omyDIDREBokX-E6Q

BBC 100 Women 2024 list

Irish Times/Sports Ireland Sportswoman of the Year...

Rejuvenate free course for women

https://www.ucc.ie/en/fitu/courses/shortcourse-rejuvenate/

Although women are more likely to be in the position of returning to work, they could still leave it open to all

EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Ireland Female Forum

Women of steel conference (Ireland)

For women in steel industry

Billboard Women in Music awards

(Came up as a Facebook ad)

AWS Events

Celebrating our TechWomen100 2025 Winners!

Congratulations to our incredible Amazonians recognised for tech excellence:

Arya V Nair, Head of Business Intelligence, Amazon UK

Tochi Emewulu, Senior Product Manager, AWS

Lydia Ray, Sr Analytics Solution Architect, Amazon

Liliia Rafikova, Software Developer, AWS

The TechWomen100 Awards celebrate women's achievements in tech & champions of diversity. Proud to have such inspiring leaders shaping tech's future at Amazon!

International Day for Women and Girls in Science

#WomenInScience #InternationalDayOfWomenAndGirlsInScience

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/2026/02/24/state-considers-accepting-gift-of-shuttered-limerick-rugby-space-to-open-womens-museum

State considers accepting gift of shuttered Limerick rugby space to open women’s museum

[..]

A museum dedicated to women is one of the key recommendations of a report of the Advisory Committee on Women’s Stories, which was adopted by the Government in December.

It recommended a “permanent, dedicated physical museum, to give visibility, legitimacy and recognition to women’s representation, experiences and voices, in all their diversity”.

Women in sport week(photo on front page of a local newspaper)

Groups for men and women I came across:

campaign group See Her Elected

o1s1n · 04-03-2026 12:09AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124283094#Comment_124283094

Be the change you want to see, have you started any men's groups?

iptba · 04-03-2026 12:47AM

Not the gotcha you probably hoped for as I did run one in college for a while.

Anyway, the main point is taxpayer money and company money and resources doesn’t seem to be spent in anything like an equal manner on gender-specific initiatives. What could be called gender discrimination.

(Quoting is not working for me for some reason).

o1s1n · 04-03-2026 12:48PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124283167#Comment_124283167

I see. So you ran a men's group in college until you discovered your true calling, pointing out all the supports women get and lamenting 'what about men?!' on the internet.

Rather than decrying the support women are (quite rightly) in receipt of, maybe focus on supports men actually need?

I saw someone giving out recently about a mother's morning group for under 3s with the typical 'but what about dads?! DISCRIMINATION!' outrage.

My response? 'Have you thought about maybe setting one up for dads?' - no response.

It's not discrimination when you or anyone else can go out and literally organise exactly the same thing.

Any suggestions as to support structures that might help younger men that could be championed in your day to day life?

iptba · 04-03-2026 03:18PM

As I have said before on Boards, I am a trustee for a charity that is not in this area. I am also not one of the types of trustees who just focuses on the board meetings, I do a lot of voluntary work for the charity. Such voluntary work has been going on for decades and I have no plans to stop. So between that and other things in my life, I don’t feel in a position to get involved in running another group and the like.

I don’t feel inclined to justify myself anymore to someone who has talked to me in such an unfriendly manner.

OldRio · 08-03-2026 01:47PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124283094#Comment_124283094

I'll be honest, why do this? Trawl the Internet for something to be outraged about? You obviously have a bee in your bonnet about this but why? What's the real reason?

iptba · 09-03-2026 05:00PM

I don't trawl the Internet specifically to look for these. I think if I did I would find a lot more. I am simply collating things that came across my path when simply consuming what's coming from media outlets such as in Irish national newspapers and on Twitter. It doesn't take very much time to simply copy and post what I see to an existing post I have in my inbox on my phone..

Purposes include highlighting how it seems there are more efforts are done to help females than males. Most of these are not like the example of a specific charity set up to help men or women. Many are ordinary organisations or taxpayer-funded bodies who don't have a remit specifically to help females (or males). And yet they do so with for example programmes for women or prizes/shortlists. Being nominated for a shortlist or prize can help one's CV/career but there seems to be much more of these for women than men.

Then also I grew up hearing that things like Portmarnock golf club were terrible for equality. The Equality Authority spent a lot of taxpayers' money fighting it in the courts. Try to set up a men's network in a particular company or sector of employment or in politics and you risk criticism and even opprobrium. Yet there seems to be a different attitude when networks for women are set up.

We are often told we live in a patriarchy and a society that works to help men over women, that men are privileged and have most of the advantages. This is an example of why I question this.

OldRio · 09-03-2026 06:14PM

Well we did live in a patriarchy society. I remember a time when bars didn't allow women. Clubs didn't allow women. Sports discriminated against women. Work place was a toxic ground for women. Things have changed and I for one are happy they have.

I know you don't have to trawl the Internet for these stories because Google will have them ready for you. A feed of your begrudgement.

Rocket_GD · 09-03-2026 06:17PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124298780#Comment_124298780

Your algorithm is just pushing all this towards you due to your internet activity, especially Twitter, it's no wonder that you see all of this.

It's not a healthy obsession to have.

iptba · 09-03-2026 07:50PM

A lot of them are from the email bulletins of the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Irish Examiner and RTE. That’s how I find out about Irish news (I find watching TV an inefficient use of my time except for pleasure).

I use Twitter in connection with my charity work. I follow lots of individuals and agencies connected with that which has nothing to do with gender. I’m a regular poster on this (non gender) topic. That’s the topic I like posts on and repost on and that’s what people respond to me about. That is what Twitter feeds me posts on. Also I almost always look at my “following” feed (i.e.. of accounts I follow, none of which focus on gender) rather than my “For you” feed. Though these days my notifications are so busy and with other sources of information, I rarely look at feeds at all. I religiously don’t like or repost matters relating to gender.

I do have a Twitter account relating to gender. I very rarely look at it these days. If I was sourcing topics from that, a lot more of what I posted would be international. Most of what I posted is from Ireland.

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that’s there are more initiatives for women and coverage focused on women than men in Ireland. If a media monitoring service was employed to do a more rigorous search of what is published and broadcast, I think it would find that.

OldRio · 09-03-2026 09:17PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124298963#Comment_124298963

This 100%

Rocket_GD · 09-03-2026 09:27PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124299203#Comment_124299203

Fair play on whatever charity work that you do.

It doesn’t change that you algorithm, not just Twitter is still feeding you information. Email bulletins from RTÉ/Irish Times will not be flooding you with pro women initiatives.

Even if they are then so what. Women were repressed and underrepresented for centuries. They need more in order to try and essentially catch up.

I can’t imagine you’re as outwardly negative about this in your day to day life, especially with the women in your life.

Iecrawfc · 10-03-2026 02:40AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124298951#Comment_124298951

You seem triggered by someone pointing out that present day discrimination is not meant to address historical wrongs, thr assumption that middle and upper class women(never working class) need a leg up over men is 'offical' position but like everything its not above scrutiny

RoyalCelt · 10-03-2026 03:14AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124035311#Comment_124035311

These NGO's were generally supported financially for good reasons. But when the mission is complete do you just expect people to just abandoned their careers and say job done? Of course not, they'll just look for a new angle to justify continued funding and keep the activism going even if the scales have tilted in favour of women.

It's going to take a political movement with real balls to bring change.

OldRio · 10-03-2026 09:52AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124299986#Comment_124299986

'Triggered' What an odd thing to say. Especially when the only person 'triggered' is the poster I had the audacity to ask why?

I'm interested in why a poster has tens if not hundreds of posts about a gripe he has. What is the reason? The real reason. It's unhealthy. He has dodged this core question, which of course he is entitled to do and that's the problem. Until he addresses the root course he will never have closure or understanding.

Sn@kebite · 10-03-2026 07:11PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124298951#Comment_124298951

What has that got to do with complex problems men and boys face? It's the oldest trick in the book. "oh well women in yesteryear couldn't do X or Y" so does that mean boys should not have supports in school? We shouldn't look male victims of DV or what barriers and prejudices they face? Or the increasing health disparities between men and women where there are areas men are more vulnerable?

Your view doesn't seem genuine, it looks like a poorly disguised sneering attitude.

No one denies women had it bad and today still face complex inequalities; but this thread is about male disparities. You simply don't like reading it because it doesn't fit into your ideological framework. - We see complex issue women face widely recognized, funded and represented which is a good thing, but when someone focuses on very complex issues men and boys face (which are not represented well) people like you come in with your resentfulness and sneering.

Why don't you stop reading the thread?

iptba · 10-03-2026 08:03PM

Advantaging one group is a sure way to feed begrudgement now and in the future.

Also if it's fair to advantage women now because of discrimination they suffered in the past will it be fair to advantage men in the future to compensate for disadvantages men suffered? This cycle could go on indefinitely.

In general I think it is much better to strive to avoid discriminatory practices. Treat everyone equally.

Rocket_GD · 10-03-2026 08:22PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124302253#Comment_124302253

As men were advantaged for the past 100+ years.

Men aren’t suffering disadvantages, no matter how much people spout “white, straight males are being discriminated against”.

Of course you think that, you’ve never suffered any discrimination.

Take a break from Twitter.

This is coming from a straight, white man who is 33.

OldRio · 10-03-2026 08:44PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124302063#Comment_124302063

Enjoy the echo chamber you inhabit. Life's to short to engage with people who look for misery.

Sn@kebite · 10-03-2026 08:52PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124302366#Comment_124302366

It's a peculiar thing you say that. Did you know Norway just set up a Men's Equality Commission in 2024. It's designed to research and develop legislation to combat male disadvantages in education, health, criminal justice, etc and the worseing nature of male disparities.

Richard Reeves praised it in 2024 stating it's overdue. https://ofboysandmen.substack.com/p/look-to-norway

The motives behind it is that the Norwegian government recognises equality legislations systematically ignore or miss complex "equality difficulties" faced by men and boys based on our sex.

It's a queer thing to set up by the Norwegian State if men and boys haven’t and don't suffer sex based discrimination. Of course we do ! Has it (the discrimination) been as damaging to men historically as sex discrimination has been to women? Probably not. But of course we do, your view is truly bizarre.

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