Men's rights activists claim that men experience gender discrimination in various areas of society, including
child custody cases,
domestic violence,
health, and
education. Some, if not all, men's rights issues stem from
gender roles and, according to sociologist
Allan G. Johnson,
patriarchy.
Anti-dowry laws Men's rights organizations such as
Save Indian Family Foundation (SIFF) say that women misuse legislation meant to protect them from
dowry death and
bride burnings. SIFF is a men's rights organization in India that focuses on abuse of
anti-dowry laws against men. SIFF has campaigned to abolish
Section 498A of the
Indian Penal Code, which penalizes cruelty by husbands (and the husband's family) in pursuit of dowry or for driving a wife to suicide. SIFF states anti-dowry laws are regularly being abused to settle petty disputes in marriage and that they regularly receive calls from many men who allege their wives have used false dowry claims to imprison them.
Fathers' rights A prominent area of concern of the men's rights movement in Western countries has been the issue of
fathers' rights. Fathers' rights campaigners advocate for greater influence of fathers in the lives of children, especially after
divorce. Sociologists
Melissa Blais and
Francis Dupuis-Déri have identified fathers' rights as the main area for recruitment into the men's rights movement as a whole. Men's rights advocates argue that
family law and
family courts are biased against fathers, especially in regards to
child custody. They believe that men do not have the same contact rights or equitable
shared parenting rights as their ex-spouse and use statistics on custody awards as evidence of judicial bias against men. Conversely, sociologist
Michael Flood argues that fathers' lack of involvement with their children before separation plays a larger role in obstructing their access to children after divorce. Fathers' rights activists promote the interests of separated fathers through lobbying for changes in family law, such as making
joint custody the default custody arrangement. Men's rights activists argue that the lack of contact with their children makes fathers less willing to pay
child support. Others cite the discredited
parental alienation syndrome (PAS) or
parental alienation as a reason to grant custody to fathers; they claim that mothers alienate children from their fathers and make false accusations of abuse in order to seek revenge against fathers. protesting in
Peterborough in 2010 Scholars and critics argue that empirical research does not support the notion of a judicial bias against men and that men's rights advocates distort statistics in a way that ignores the fact that the majority of men do not seek custody, and the overwhelming majority of custody cases are settled outside of court. Scholars and critics argue that the men's rights rhetoric of children's "needs" that accompanies their plea for fathers' rights is merely to deflect criticism that they are motivated by self-interest and masks men's rights advocates' own claims. Flood argues that the fathers' and men's rights movement seems to prioritize re-establishing paternal authority over the children, rather than actual involvement, and that they prioritize principles of equality over the positive parenting and well-being of the children. Men's rights activists also seek to expand the rights of unwed fathers in case of their child's
adoption. Warren Farrell argues that in failing to inform the father of a pregnancy, an expectant mother deprives an adopted child of a relationship with the biological father. He proposes that women be legally required to make every reasonable effort to notify the father of her pregnancy within four to five days. In response,
philosopher James P. Sterba agrees that, for moral reasons, a woman should inform the father of the pregnancy and adoption, but this should not be imposed as a legal requirement as it might result in undue pressure, for example, to have an abortion.
Circumcision Observers have stated that the '
intactivist' movement, an anti-circumcision movement, has some overlap with the men's rights movement. Most men's rights activists object to routine neonatal
circumcision and compare the procedure to
female genital mutilation. The controversy around
non-consensual circumcision of children for non-therapeutic reasons is not exclusive to the men's rights movement, and involves concerns of feminists and
medical ethics. Some doctors and academics have argued that circumcision is a violation of the right to health and
bodily integrity, while others have disagreed.
Divorce Men's rights groups in the United States began organizing in opposition to divorce reform and custody issues around the 1960s. Up until this time, husbands held legal power and control over wives and children. The men involved in the early organization claimed that family and divorce law discriminated against them and favored their wives. Men's rights leader Rich Doyle likened divorce courts to
slaughterhouses, considering their judgements unsympathetic and unreasonable. Men's rights activists have argued that divorce and custody laws violate men's individual rights to equal protection. Law professor Gwendolyn Leachman writes that this sort of framing "downplays the systemic biases that women face that justify protective divorce and custody laws".
Domestic violence Men's rights groups describe domestic violence committed by women against men as a problem that goes ignored, under-reported, and under-researched, in part because men are reluctant to label themselves as victims. and that domestic violence is gender-symmetrical. Many domestic violence scholars and advocates have rejected the research cited by men's rights activists as flawed, saying that their focus on women's violence stems from a political agenda to minimize the severity of the problem of men's violence against women and children They critique what they describe as the "feminization" of education, stating that the predominance of female teachers, a focus on girls' needs, as well as a curricula and assessment methods that supposedly favour girls, have proved repressive and restrictive to men and boys. Men's rights groups call for increased recognition of masculinity, greater numbers of male role models, more competitive sports, and the increased responsibilities for boys in the school setting. They have also advocated clearer school routines, more traditional school structures, including gender-
segregated classrooms, and stricter discipline. In the United Kingdom, the creation of a Minister for Men analogous to the existing
Minister for Women, has been proposed by
David Amess, MP and
Lord Northbourne, but was rejected by the government headed by Prime Minister
Tony Blair.
Health Men's rights groups view the health issues faced by men, and their shorter life spans compared to women globally, as evidence of discrimination and oppression. However, women and minorities had typically been excluded from medical research until the 1990s.
Viviana Simon states: "Most biomedical and clinical research has been based on the assumption that the male can serve as representative of the species." Medical scholars warn that such false assumptions are still prevalent. Contrary to antifeminist assertions, empirical findings suggest that gender bias against females remains the norm in medicine. Warren Farrell argues that
industrialization raised the stress level of men while lowering the stress-level of women by pulling men away from the home and the family, and pushing women closer to home and family. He cites this an explanation why men are more likely to die from all 15 leading causes of death than women at all ages. He argues that the U.S. government having an Office of Research on Women's Health but no Office of Research on Men's Health, along with the U.S. federal government spending twice as much money on Women's health, shows that society considers men more disposable than women. Scholars have critiqued these claims, Genevieve Creighton & John L Oliffe have stated that men engage in positive health practices, such as reducing fat intake and alcohol, to conform to positive masculine ideals. Some have argued that biology contributes to the life-expectancy gap. For example, it has been found that females consistently outlive males among primates. Eunuchs, castrated before puberty, have shown to live with varying differences, more than other males, pointing to
testosterone levels playing a role in the life-expectancy gap. Luy and Gast found that the female–male life expectancy gap is primarily due to higher mortality rates among specific sub-populations of men. They therefore state that social programs should be narrowly targeted to those sub-populations, rather than to men as a whole.
Homelessness Glen Poole, author of the book
Equality For Men, argues that homelessness is a gendered issue, saying that in Britain, most homeless people are male.
Incarceration Men's rights campaigners believe that men receive harsher treatment than women in criminal justice systems around the world. They cite the disproportionate number of men in prison as evidence of this. In the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, India and across the European Union, 90–95% of prison inmates are male. Studies have shown that, compared with women who commit similar crimes, men are more likely to be incarcerated, receive longer prison sentences, and have to serve a greater portion of their sentences. According to Warren Farrell, a man convicted of murder in the United States is twenty times more likely to receive a death sentence than a woman convicted of murder. There is also evidence that female sex offenders are treated with more leniency than their male counterparts. Farrell believes society considers women to be naturally more innocent and credible, and criticizes
battered woman and
infanticide defenses. He criticizes conditions in men's prisons and the lack of attention to
prison male-to-male rape by authorities.
Military conscription Men's rights activists argue that the sole military
conscription of men is an example of discrimination against men. Historically, most societies have only required men to be conscripted. According to
David Benatar, "perhaps the most obvious example of male disadvantage is the long history of social and legal pressures on men, but not on women, to enter the military and to fight in war, thereby risking their lives and bodily and psychological health. Where the pressure to join the military has taken the form of conscription, the costs of avoidance have been self-imposed exile, imprisonment, physical assault or, in the most extreme circumstances, execution." Around 80 countries worldwide still use conscription in various forms, and most of these have a male-only draft. In the United States, all males ages 18–25 are required to register for
Selective Service. Failure to do so can result in fines, imprisonment, and ineligibility for student loans and federal employment. Women are not required to register. In 1971, draft resisters in the United States initiated a class-action suit alleging that male-only conscription violated men's rights to equal protection under the US constitution. However, the Supreme Court upheld the Military Selective Service Act, stating that "the argument for registering women was based on considerations of equity, but Congress was entitled, in the exercise of its constitutional powers, to focus on the question of military need, rather than 'equity'". The 2016 decision by Defense Secretary
Ash Carter to make all
combat positions open to women relaunched debate over whether or not women should be required to register for the
Selective Service System. In the case
National Coalition for Men v. Selective Service System, the Southern District Court of Texas ruled the male-only draft unconstitutional.
Paternity fraud Men's and fathers' rights groups interest in "paternity fraud" or mistaken paternity falls into two main categories: men who are compelled to provide financial support for a child that has been proven by DNA testing not to be their biological offspring, and men who have been led to believe that the children they are raising are their own, and have subsequently discovered otherwise. They state that men should not be forced to support children fathered by another man, They have campaigned vigorously in support of men who have been shown by
genetic testing not to be the biological father, but who are nevertheless required to be financially responsible for them. and laws that would make it illegal to obtain a sample for DNA testing without the individual's informed consent. Estimates of the extent of misattributed paternity vary considerably. Some campaigners claim that between 10% and 30% of children are being parented by men who are unaware that they are not the biological father, but Professor
Leslie Cannold writes that these numbers have been inflated by an order of magnitude, with about 1% seen in Australia and the UK, and 3% observed in the US. Gilding opposed as unnecessary calls for mandatory paternity testing of all children.
Rape False accusations against men Men's rights activists believe there are a significant number of
false accusations of rape, and have proposed legal changes to protect men in those situations. Men's rights proponents believe that the naming of the accused while providing the accuser (victim) with anonymity encourages abuse of this kind. Men's rights advocates have also claimed that rape "has been used as a scam." Studies from the United States,
Australia, and the
Britain have found the percentage of estimated false or unsubstantiated rape allegations to be around 2% to 8%. Whilst false accusations of rape often receive much online and media attention, the vast majority do not lead to conviction or wrongful jail time despite the claims of some organisations. A study from the
British Home Office for example, shows that in the early 2000s, of 216 sexual assault cases that were classified as false allegations, only six led to an arrest and just two led to charges against the accused before ultimately being ruled as false. To argue the issue of false accusations of rape, the categories of 'false' and 'unsubstantiated' are often conflated, such as the
National Coalition for Men citing reports such as the 1996 FBI summary that finds a rate of 8% for unsubstantiated forcible rape, which is four times higher than the average for all
index crimes as a whole. Experts emphasize that
verified false allegations are a distinct category from unsubstantiated allegations, and conflating the two is fallacious. These figures are widely debated due to the questionable methodology and small sample sizes.
Sexual violence against men Men's rights activists have also raised contention on the issue of sexual violence against men, especially in the context of the stigma surrounding male victims of rape and the legal troubles they face, including being counter-sued for rape, child support (see
Hermesmann v. Seyer), and lack of action. Men's rights activists have also criticized the lack of attention towards
prison male-to-male rape by authorities. the United States and India. The reasons for opposition include concerns about false allegations related to divorce proceedings, and the belief that sex within marriage is an irrevocable part of the institution of marriage. In India, there has been anxiety about relationships and the future of marriage that such laws have given women "grossly disproportional rights". Virag Dhulia of the
Save Indian Family Foundation, a men's rights organization, has opposed recent efforts to criminalize
marital rape in India, arguing that "no relationship will work if these rules are enforced".
Reproductive rights Men's rights campaigners argue that while a woman has several legal avenues to opt out of being a mother after conception (abortion, adoption,
safe haven laws), a man has no choice in whether he becomes a father and is at the mercy of the mother's decision. Moreover, a man who fathers a child as a result of
reproductive coercion or a sexual assault by a woman can still be compelled to support the child financially. Cases in
Kansas,
California and
Arizona have established that a male raped as a minor by a woman can be held legally responsible for a child that results from the assault, a situation the director of the National Center for Men described as "ridiculous", and which would not be tolerated if the genders were reversed. According to Warren Farrell, "
Roe v. Wade gave women the vote over their bodies. Men still don't have the vote over theirs—whether in love or war." In consequence, some advocate for "paper abortion", which would allow the
biological father, before the birth of the child, to opt out of any rights, privileges, and responsibilities toward the child, including
financial support. In 2006, the American National Center for Men backed
Dubay v. Wells, a lawsuit which concerned whether men should have the opportunity to decline all paternity rights and responsibilities in the event of an unplanned pregnancy. Supporters argued that this would allow the woman time to make an informed decision and give men the same reproductive rights as women. The case and the appeal were dismissed, with the U.S. Court of Appeals (Sixth Circuit) stating that neither parent has the right to sever their financial responsibilities for a child and that "Dubay's claim that a man's right to disclaim fatherhood would be analogous to a woman's right to abortion rests upon a false analogy".
Social security and insurance Men's rights groups argue that women are given superior social security and tax benefits than men. Warren Farrell states that men in the United States pay more into social security, but in total, women receive more in benefits, and that discrimination against men in insurance and pensions have gone unrecognized.
Suicide Men's rights activists point to higher
suicide rates in men compared to women. and some studies have shown a higher suicidal intent in men. In Australia, 75% of suicides are male, with, on average, six men killing themselves each day. Studies have also found an over-representation of women in attempted or incomplete suicides and men in complete suicides. This phenomenon, described as the "
gender paradox in suicide," is argued to derive from a tendency for females to use less lethal methods and greater male access and use of lethal methods. ==Prominent men's rights activists==