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Does the NUS have a man problem?

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Aaron Golightly, a journalism graduate from Bournemouth University, was disturbed to read of the NUS’ dismissive response to recent findings by a major think tank that universities need to do more to support male students. Here he asks, is this just one example of a pattern of NUS failures to support male students?

On May 12 the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) published a 64-page report that concluded young men were not performing as well as women in higher education. However if you imagined that the National Union of Students would respond to these findings with a resolve to tackle the widening inequality gap in this area, you’d be wrong.

On the publication of the findings, Nick Hillman, co-author of the report and the Director of HEPI, said: “Nearly everyone seems to have a vague sense that our education system is letting young men down, but there are few detailed studies of the problem and almost no clear policy recommendations on what to do about it.

“Young men are much less likely to enter higher education, are more likely to drop out and are less likely to secure a top degree than women. Yet, aside from initial teacher training, only two higher education institutions currently have a specific target to recruit more male students. That is a serious problem that we need to tackle.”

“Battle of the sexes?”

The response from NUS vice president Sorana Vieru, quoted in the Independent dismissing the findings, was that the report took a “complex and nuanced issue and turned it into a ‘battle of the sexes’.” It’s impossible not to reserve some admiration for an individual who accuses a 12,000 word report of ignoring nuance and complexity within the confines of a soundbite, yet I find it difficult to believe that if you replaced the words ‘young men’ with perhaps ‘young women’, their response to the report would be so glib and contemptuous.

The NUS do campaign against inequality in a number of different areas affecting women, LGBT and black and ethnic minorities. One group that it seems to constantly overlook however is men. If you trawl the website looking for various campaigns and issues that they’ve seen fit to promote over the years you’ll notice one rather glaring omission. Whilst there exists multiple references to their fight against ‘Lad Culture’, including their own 38-page audit report, there doesn’t appear to be room to address either the subject of male suicides or the widening gap between male and female university applicants.

The Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) reports that in 2014 there were 4,623 male suicides in the UK, the single biggest cause of death in men under 45. Given that probably around half of all members are likely to be young men, it’s an issue that would seem a natural fit for the NUS to champion, but you’d be wrong. It’s difficult to find a single thing that anyone from the NUS has ever said urging prioritised concern for this issue, let alone evidence of a concerted and organised national campaign to raise awareness of it.

“Do they just not like men?”

It’s not just at national level where what might be described, at best, as willful ignorance of the subject matter exists. Recently Durham University’s Student Union rejected an application from students wishing to establish a Men’s society that sought specifically to create an environment where male students could address issues such as mental health and suicide where otherwise they might feel uncomfortable or perhaps even less macho doing so.

Does the NUS not care specifically that suicide is the biggest killer of their male members or do they just not like men? You could easily conclude the latter if you perused the Twitter history of NUS committee member Sarah Noble who last year was suspended from the Liberal Democrats for Tweeting her desire to “kill all men”.

If you’re gay and reading this and think that at least you’ll be immune from the blatant misandry then I’ve some bad news. Earlier this year the NUS called for all LGBT societies to drop the position of gay men’s representative in a motion that also concluded that gay males were the likely perpetrators of sexism, racism and transphobia. This assertion wasn’t backed up by facts and figures or even anecdotal testimony, so one can only assume that this conclusion was reached using the logic of: it’s men, innit.

A further, yet perhaps comparatively slight, example of how the NUS care little for the welfare of their male students is seen in their handling of domestic violence awareness. Nobody could or should seek to deny that domestic violence affects women disproportionately and that it is sensible to target awareness campaigns at them. Similar to how you’d imagine the NUS would target awareness on the issue of suicides on the group disproportionately affected (but don’t).

As part of their admirable ‘Recognise the Signs’ promotion of domestic violence awareness the webpage states:

“Domestic violence can also take place in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender relationships, and can involve other family members, including children.”

Yet despite acknowledging that domestic violence exists within gay and bisexual relationships, the only support information they provide are the National Domestic Violence Helpline and Women’s Aid, two services that exclusively offer help and support to female victims of domestic violence. This oversight on its own could be considered innocuous, but within the general context of how the NUS seems to view men and the inequalities they face, it’s hard not to view the omission to provide information of any service that would help male victims as part of the ongoing culture of not seeing men’s issues as worthy of concern.

“Drinking from a mug of male tears”

The awful truth is that when it comes to representation from their union, male students are at the back of the queue. Your student rep is far more likely to drink from a ‘male tears’ mug than they are to have ever led or taken part in a cause that promotes awareness of male health issues.

You only have to look at the Twitter accounts of those in senior leadership positions, such as Vice president (Higher Education) Sorana Vieru who in September Tweeted: “I’m no fan of cis white men”.

Or the account of Shelly Asquith, who is, incredibly, Vice President (Welfare) at the National Union of Students, and boasted she was “drinking prosecco from a mug entitled (sic) Men’s Tears” and that she was repulsed at having to “face disgusting men” on her commute to work.

It should perhaps come as no surprise then, that young men feel unable to ask for help on mental health issues when structures that should be there to offer help and support, seem preoccupied with mocking and dismissing their concerns based on historical patriarchy that they had absolutely nothing to do with.

The failure of the NUS to be a prominent voice in campaigns to raise awareness of the issues of male suicides and male educational underachievement cannot continue to go unnoticed. As an organisation it has failed men by refusing to champion issues that affect male students, including suicide and the growing disadvantage men from certain working class backgrounds face in higher education. It’s either that the NUS don’t feel comfortable championing these issues, or it doesn’t care about them.

Either way it’s never been a better time to ask: Does the NUS have a man problem?

By Aaron Golightly

Photo courtesy Flickr/rawdonfox

“40 times more pictures of successful female than male students on results day”

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There were 40 times more pictures of female students than male students receiving their A Level results on the morning of results day, according to the Guardian’s picture desk.

Writing on the Guardian’s live results day blog, Guardian picture editor Matt Fidler wrote:

“It’s 11.30 on the Guardian picture desk and so far we have only one photograph on our agency feeds of a male student receiving his results, from Wigan in Lancashire, v 40+ photographs of female students getting theirs.

“Luckily the Guardian has its own photographer out in Bristol to correct the balance later. In the meantime, here’s a group picture of taking in both sexes.”

The BBC’s education story featured three pictures of successful female students, with no male students.

Journalist Martin Daubney reported that there were no young men on the morning’s Sky News results day coverage.

The disproportionate number of images of successful female students were accompanied by headlines in The Times and The Independent that appeared to celebrate the widening gap between female and male university admissions.

The Independent ran the headline: “A-Level results 2015: Women outperform men again as record numbers secure university places.”

The front page headline of this morning’s Times was: “Women take record lead in university admissions.”

The Independent reported that in excess of 27,000 more females are due to start degree courses this autumn than males.

Why Michelle Obama’s global girls’ education campaign isn’t really about education

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On Tuesday Michelle Obama visited a girls’ school in one of London’s poorest boroughs to announce that the US and UK will collaborate on a $180m global campaign to support girls’ education.

Mrs Obama said the lack of access to education for girls was a “heart breaking injustice” and that “girls’ education is a global issue that requires a global response”.

Except it isn’t just girls who face global educational disadvantage, so do boys.

In March international think tank and governmental advisor, OECD, published a study into the educational attainment of girls and boys in 64 countries across the globe.

It found girls are out-performing boys at school in every country it studied — from China and the US, right through to Jordan and Peru.

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What’s more, the choice of announcing the project in Tower Hamlets – one of London’s poorest boroughs – was presumably intended to send the message that girls from poor and ethnic minority backgrounds are hit hardest of all.

Except in the UK, poor and ethnic minority boys also do worse at school than girls from those backgrounds – and dramatically worse than well-off girls.

According to a 2012 Children’s Commissioner report, poor black boys with a special educational need are 168 times more likely to be excluded from school than white girls without special needs from more affluent backgrounds.

And when it comes to getting into university, in the UK the gender gap between men and women has never been wider. In a remarkable statistic from the UCAS admissions service, in a quarter of parliamentary constituencies, there are 50% more girls than boys going to university.

Ideology, not education

So why is Mrs Obama solely concerned with girls’ education?

One explanation could be that the fund is intended to target parts of the world in which girls are prevented from going to school altogether.

That’s obviously a valid and important cause, but even if this is the case, why launch a global education campaign that focuses solely on girls in those areas, when boys are doing dramatically worse than girls everywhere else?

What’s more, why hasn’t Mrs Obama – or for that matter Mrs Cameron – launched a high-profile campaign, backed by millions, to tackle the grave gendered educational disadvantage that’s hitting boys hardest in the US and the UK — the countries whose citizens they actually represent?

(In fact, when was the last time you heard any major politician raise a rallying call to tackle the crisis in boys’ education in the UK?)

Who’s worth fighting for?

But to ask those questions would be to miss the point. Because this latest campaign isn’t really about children’s education at all – it’s about ideology.

As Mrs Obama arrived at the school, she was met by students singing “Something Inside So Strong” and “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou, while London’s Evening Standard ran the story on its front page under the headline – ‘Michelle: Stand Up For Girl Power’.

At the school, Mrs Obama said: “All it takes is to walk into that courtyard and hear the voices of the young women standing tall and strong and smart. I meet girls like this everywhere I go round the world. That is who we are fighting for.”

What message is this sending to the millions of boys not just in the UK and the US, but across the globe, who are struggling at school, or being kicked out altogether?

I’ll tell you what I think it’s telling them. It’s telling them they’re not worth fighting for.

It’s telling them, that if you’re a girl, world leaders will spend millions to help you, but if you’re a boy, you’re on your own.

By Dan Bell

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Wanted: Stupid male writers to say why women are more intelligent than them. Paid.

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At the end of last week, as I skimmed through a few of the people I follow in twitter, I came across a tweet from a glossy women’s fashion magazine — it was a RT, honest — asking for single male writers for an article on what it’s like as a man navigating the desolate wastes of the dating scene. I added the bit about desolate wastes.

Anyway. Not only do I happen to fit very neatly into that demographic — and when I say neatly, that’s in the sense that a noose fits neatly around a condemned man’s neck – the 140 characters included the only four that matter: Paid.

What’s more, I optimistically thought to myself, as an editor for a men’s issues magazine, this might even be a great opportunity to reach out to a new audience of women and offer them an insight into what it’s like when the Nike Air Classic is on the other foot, so to speak.

So, I cheerily fired off a quick email: “Totes. Can do. Wotchuafta? How much you payin?” (Or words to that effect).

Clooney and Amal

This came the reply:

“So basically I need to find a single guy to write an opinion piece about deliberately dating women who are cleverer than him – hooked off George Clooney’s comments about Amal being smarter than him, and some new statistics also saying that men deliberately date women who are cleverer than them too.

“If this sounds like something you can relate to, and you’re interested, could you write me a few quick sentences about what you think on the subject and wing over a headshot, and I’ll pitch you to my editors this afternoon!”

Having read and carefully considered this offer, my first impulse was to “wing over” a couple of other four-letter words, connected with a couple of three-letter ones.

Instead, I decided to ask if I could see the research she was referring to, and having noticed they were also looking for a single woman to describe her experiences of dating, I asked what angle they’d be looking for in her dating story.

Teachers now mark down boys

For some reason they ignored my questions and said they’d found someone else.

Now, I know it’s a stretch to try and base some kind of devastating social commentary on this squalid little exchange, but let’s face it, it wouldn’t be the first time and it’s way too much fun for it to be the last, so just bear with me on this.

You see, I couldn’t help but notice that just the day before the magazine’s interest in smart women and stupid men, there was a major news story that addressed exactly the same stereotypes.

According to the BBC, an international report found that not only are boys falling behind girls in education across the globe, there is evidence of widespread prejudice against boys by teachers, who are marking down boys in comparison to girls, even if they are of the same ability.

Woman rolls eyes. Cut.

In another study in 2010, this prejudice was found to start very young, with both girls and boys believing girls are more intelligent than boys by the time they are seven or eight years old.

Meanwhile, there is the near-universal media trope in adverts, TV and film, of smart women and stupid men. (It’s so pervasive in fact, that there’s now a visual shorthand that tells us everything we need to know in a split second: woman rolls eyes. Cut.)

So why I wonder, would the editors of a women’s magazine think their readers would be interested in reading about men who fancy women who are more intelligent than them?

Could it be that the magazine’s readers now believe men in general are less intelligent than women, and despairing of finding a partner, want to be told there are men out there who don’t mind this intellectual power imbalance? Or perhaps, less charitably, these women like the idea of a nice-but-dim hunk, who looks pretty but won’t answer back?

Who knows. Whatever the reasons, none of them seem very pleasant for either women or men.

By Dan Bell

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Dads, what would you do if your son pushed a bully?

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My youngest son, Jack, has always been a passionate young man; keen to see fairness, ensure everyone is safe and protect others from injustice with a strong voice and righteous energy – and I love him for it.

A few years ago, when he was just 6 years old, he was in the playground at break time and used this knightly energy to protect his friend, Tom, also 6 – and unhappily the wearer of a stomach mounted insulin pump, from another child’s violence. Jack and Tom, being active type boys, were playing a tig type game within a group when Tom was kicked violently in the stomach by another boy who was enraged by an unfairness.

Jack immediately and instinctively, whilst dodging further blows, shoved the angry boy away hard and shouted clearly and strongly that kicking Tom was not ok. He then comforted his mate and took him sobbing and in some discomfort to the playground supervisor, for adult help.

Zero tolerance gone mad?

What followed was a really good illustration of how confused some institutions and their staff have become around the whole area of behaviour, the nature of being a boy, violence – and the dreaded zero tolerance policy. Now, the boy who had violently kicked out had some diagnosed behavioural issues – so was appropriately talked to along the lines of agreed and planned responses to his anti-social behaviours – so far so good and to be applauded.

The victim, Tom, was taken to see the school office to check his pump and he were ok, was helped to calm down and given sympathy – also good, and what we would all, I feel sure, want for our youngster. My son, who remember was only 6, and had protected another vulnerable little boy, in the best way he knew how, was taken to the Head and given a warning.

Apparently he had breached the schools ‘zero tolerance’ policy towards violence by aggressively pushing and shouting at the perpetrator. He was given a clear understanding that any such repeat would result in an exclusion, despite his corroborated explanations of what had taken place and his clear and reasoned assertions that Tom needed his protection; that his punishment was simply not a ‘normal’ response and most definitely not fair!

When is it right to be a knight?

You see, despite him being only 6, this policy was not flexible for him; because he did not have a diagnosis of ADHD, that allowed for flexibility and recognition of individuality.

My lovely, loving and brave son came home in tears of injustice, upset and hurt. We talked and I held him and praised him for protecting his friend. I told him it was all of our jobs to protect the vulnerable, that sometimes this needed us to be physical against the aggressor – and that if possible it was better to not use violence; I also let him know that I was pleased he had pushed rather than hit.

That night I made sure that the bedtime story was one that both acknowledged his actions, validated caring for others – and at the same time the ability to recognise that sometimes even the strong and powerful (read school staff – Kings in the story) can get things wrong – and that is ok to forgive them because of their many good deeds along the way, and in looking after and caring for their subjects and their kingdom.

Let common sense prevail

The next day when I dropped Jack at school I reaffirmed the messages I had given him, that I was proud of him and together we walked across the school yard to greet Tom – who gave Jack a spontaneous all enveloping hug. I exchanged eye contact, a smile and a morning greeting with the Head and registered her discomfort – clearly she had also been reflecting; which as an ex residential teacher myself I could both understand and empathise with.

You see in the moment we often have to follow policies and guidelines from ‘on high’ and are left in the wee small hours contemplating what we have done and all too often wishing we had the ability to wind back the clock just a few hours and deal differently with conflicting feelings, emotions and requirements.

To beat it all the school topic at that time was the first world war, and , apparently our shooting, bombing and killing was good – because we were ‘the goodies’ and our righteousness meant we were the victors; but the enemies similar acts were all too often war crimes – because they were ‘the baddies’ and so lost. At least in this playground moment only one vulnerable young knightly spirit was momentarily dented, and I was proud to be able to be there, salve the wounds, put him back on his horse, show my pride and set my son back on his wondrous journey on life’s quest.

 —Photo: Flickr/Walt Stone Burner

Paul Mills lives on the West coast of Scotland. He is is a parent, a trainer in the education and care sectors, an ex foster carer and therapeutic teacher who cares passionately about and working with young people, especially boys, as they start their life’s journey.

In the run up to launch of the film Down Dog on 14 February, insideMAN is running a series of articles about fatherhood and we’d love you to get involved. You can join the conversation on twitter by using the hashtag #MenBehavingDADly; leave a comment in the section below or email us with your thoughts and ideas for articles to insideMANeditor@gmail.com.

For more information about the film see www.downdogfilm.com

We need to unlock dads’ potential to help kids read

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If we don’t take action to involved fathers, they end up being passively excluded from their children’s lives

—This is article #79 in our series of #100Voices4Men and boys 

I am lucky to be a Labour Co Op Councillor, and lead member for children, as father of three and step dad of four, it perhaps is no surprise I am immersed in Children’s Services. I see fatherhood as an issue politicians need to start talking about; to be fair David Lammy MP has led with that.

I have never quite understood why the involvement of fathers in early reading is so patchy. What I do know is that fathers represent a huge untapped resource to help many children read and learn to love books. When my son was at Primary school, we were encouraged two mornings a week to come in for 15 minutes of ‘paired reading’. Simple stuff but being invited in and seeing other Dads there was important. It was fun.

Male carers

He is on his way to being a Doctor now. You never forget those great books Colin McNaughton’s books still resonate for me. Roald Dahl’s gory stories too. We found something as a group of Dads that became fun, and from what I’ve read, that makes for dads who then get far more involved with books and children, share the reading and get the fun out of books when there are a huge range of other, quite distracting media.

There is a lot of debate about how we can increase literacy levels, with initiatives working across Bradford like the new National Literacy Trust Hub.

Also we have the Dolly Parton Inspired Canterbury Imagination Library in Bradford so books will be in the home for free. Charities such as Reading Matters also use voluntary reading mentors many of whom are men.

As well as working with the 10 or more lone father households, we are trying to target the role of male carers, especially dads, to boost reading in families and communities. So we have three children’s centres targeting male carers in a variety of ways. With the support of Bradford Bulls, Yorkshire Cricket and Bradford City, we are trying to target fathers to make a real difference.

‘Fathers Reading Every Day’

I am passionate about this. Years of work in the family courts and case work as a councillor confirms to me that there has been a sort of passive exclusion of fathers from early education involvement , as well as men just not getting down on that mat and pulling out a funny book and being ready to laugh and be laughed at.

Research though shows us that Dads really do matter here, even if we are there at weekends or have shared care of our kids, oh and do not forget the step dads, step granddads etc. We have found there is a need to target work with more disadvantaged kids , in fact research from the Fatherhood Institute programme called ‘Fathers Reading Every Day’ in south London showed improvements beyond expectations , 42% of children made greater progress than expected compared to 115 of those who did not take part.

This brings us on to look at the role we Dads play in the development of children, especially the most disadvantaged and how working with fathers is a key policy area to focus on if we are to transform the prospects for many girls and boys. Active fathers really matter, they really do. Kids get higher IQ’s, better cognitive competence, problem solving skills , fewer behavioural problems in schools , better attachment to the father, are better able to cope with stress, and a lot more (see Williams and Steinberg).

But to get very practical, we are looking at unlocking the potential that is out there. A father’s reading habits and involvement are key. However, not every child is a keen reader, and not every father finds it easy, so we need to talk about it and get educators and early years practitioners to constantly look for Dads’ involvement and support it. The evidence is compelling about a positive relationship between children’s literacy skills and that of their fathers.

If we add to this the significance of the secure and beneficial relationship of a child with the father, including the fathers who do not live with their children all the time, then we can see the dad factor is key in opening up horizons. But many men have not had a great start themselves, and patterns need to be changed, which is why getting in early is so important. So the Literacy Hub in Bradford is going to work with volunteer male carers and train them up with literacy support programmes working with the home.

It’s not a do it somewhere else thing. Moreover, it has to be fun. We need to celebrate this stuff. It is another reason to have men in early year’s settings as well.

Ralph Berry, Labour Councillor, Wibsey Ward, Bradford. See his website here and follow him on Twitter @CllrRalphBerry

—Picture credit: Flickr/Kelly Sikkema

You can find all of the #100Voices4Men articles that will be published in the run up to International Men’s Day 2014 by clicking on this link—#100Voices4Men—and follow the discussion on twitter by searching for #100Voices4Men.

The views expressed in these articles are not the views of insideMAN editorial team. Whether you agree with the views expressed in this article or not we invite you to take take part in this important discussion, our only request is that you express yourself in a way that ensures everyone’s voice can be heard.

You can join the #100Voices4Men discussion by commenting below; by following us on Twitter @insideMANmag and Facebook or by emailing insideMANeditor@gmail.com. 

WWM becomes first men and boys’ charity to win gender prize at Diversity Awards

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Working With Men is a charity doing incredible work engaging with marginalised young men on a range of issues, including violence, fatherhood and education. Here the charity’s Chief Executive, Shane Ryan, discusses why it’s ground-breaking for a men and boys’ charity to win a gender diversity award, their Manifesto for Men and the important work that lays ahead during their 10th Anniversary year.

—This is article #25 in our series of #100Voices4Men and boys 

Last month we won the Community Organisation Award for Gender at the National Diversity Awards. I was genuinely surprised when they announced our name.  At that moment I was sitting back in my chair getting ready to applaud the winner, when I realised they were playing our video on screen and saying our name.

It is a significant moment for us in many ways – not only are we getting a clear message from people that what we are doing is recognised and needed – but it means disadvantaged boys and young men have finally made it onto the public agenda.

We are the first ever charity working specifically with helping boys and young men to receive such an award. Previous recipients of this award have all been women’s organisations. This is great, but there is a penny dropping – true equality needs to work both ways for men and women for everyone to move forward together.

Equality for men and women

Families are the perfect example of the place where the two things can go hand in hand, where there is reciprocity between equality for men and equality for women.

Imagine if we offered all fathers the same level of support and services we offer mothers. We have nearly a quarter of a million fathers in the UK that are stay-at-home dads and two million mums. In 1993 there were less than 120,000 dads. Things have changed. Some women are out at work earning more than men. How are we accommodating that change? This is the reality of 21st century Britain.

The more we offer family services for men, the more we make it OK for them, and, for those women, to make conscious decisions on how they are going to live their lives. This removes the shackle, or the onus, that is constantly on mums to look after children.

If we want to reduce the incidence of children’s involvement in social care, if we want to foster more equitable arrangements around child rearing and parental roles and want a more equal society where both women’s and men’s roles in life and wider society are not tied to historic stereotypes and positions, this has to extend to family life as well as work place and public life.  We have quite rightly witnessed the emancipation of women from enforced roles within society and now hope and expect these rights and freedoms will grow and continue.

Everyone of both genders and from whatever cultural or ethnic background need to be afforded the same rights and opportunities including when it comes to children, families and parenting roles; if we set an expectation or precedent that men can and should be involved in all aspects of parenting not just in the financial provider or occasional babysitter role, we make an important statement about equality for all generally.

Breaking down boundaries

 The work we are doing is breaking down boundaries and is forcing a change in mindset. Not only are we truly humbled that so many people would go out of their way to vote for us among such strong competition, we also recognise – as someone said to me the other day – we now “deserve to be in that field”.

We have really important work ahead of us. For example we want to record the numbers of fathers who are still in school.  Most of the time people don’t acknowledge they are fathers – so understandably they struggle with it. These young men have just been told they are going to be a dad, they can’t get time off to go to the antenatal appointments or the birth. Rather than brand them as boys who need to be punished, we need to keep them involved with the family and support them – the outcomes are better for the whole family, and the young mums we’ve spoken to agree with this as does the associated research. This is why we believe the creation of statutory requirements to capture father’s data where possible by health and children’s services is essential particularly where they may be vulnerable

“An extraordinary 10th anniversary year”

Chief Executive of Working With Men Shane Ryan receives the Community Organisation Award for Gender

We are having an extraordinary 10th anniversary year. It’s snowballing; we have cross-party support for the work we are doing, the next all-parliamentary group on fatherhood is around the corner; press interest is high; we are being asked to speak at  conferences and universities; our fundraising is growing, our profile is stronger, and we are looking forward to marking International Men’s Day on 19 Nov.

And here we are, a small organisation with a funny name!

On a serious note, what is significant is that our national and parliamentary work is growing. Two years ago we took over the secretariat for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Fatherhood and that added a new dimension to the work.

In this crucial time before the general election we need to show politicians what we have learned in the last decade about how to target marginalised young men and make them feel they have a stake in society. At this point I would like to thank the organisations we also now work with nationally, including Barnardos, Mums Net and the Royal College of Midwifery for their support at the party conferences recently it shows a real shift in mindset. With this in mind our core three-pronged strategy works on a ‘Manifesto for Men’ for the 2015 General Election, developing a robust evidence-based programme that begins to address inequalities in health and education.

We will continue to push the message that there are other paths to walk down – we need to gear up our young men particularly with the tools to do that. Otherwise they can often become lost and unsure what their responsibilities are.

There is more than one way to be male.

Thank you to everyone for your support. We are really proud to have won this award.

To find out more about the great work being done by Working With Men visit their website here and get involved in the discussion on twitter by using #WWM10.

You can find all of the #100Voices4Men articles that will be published in the run up to International Men’s Day 2014 by clicking on this link—#100Voices4Men—and follow the discussion on twitter by searching for #100Voices4Men.

 

The views expressed in these articles are not necessarily the views of insideMAN editorial team. Whether you agree with the views expressed in this article or not we invite you to take take part in this important discussion, our only request is that you express yourself in a way that ensures everyone’s voice can be heard.

 

You can join the #100Voices4Men discussion by commenting below; by following us on Twitter @insideMANmag and Facebook or by emailing insideMANeditor@gmail.com. 

Why is the NUS waging an ideological campaign to vilify a disadvantaged minority group?

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Two weeks ago the NUS launched its latest attack on “lad culture” at UK universities, with the publication of a survey of students’ experiences of sexism, with the accompanying claim that harassment “is rife on campus”.

The survey found 37% of women and 12% of men who responded said they had faced unwelcome sexual advances, while 36% of women who took part said they had experienced unwanted sexual comments about their body, compared with 16% of men.

The first question that springs to mind, is why findings showing that a third to fifty percent of those experiencing sexism are male students, isn’t also evidence of “ladette culture”?

The report also included these quotes from students who took part, neither of which were highlighted in the accompanying press release or articles:

‘Lad Culture Summit’

“I think it is a little overdramatizing and sexist in that it only looks at the over sexualisation of women. As a woman I do not feel that I am vulnerable and that I do go out to events dressed sexily because I want to and I can handle myself.” Woman, 3rd year university

“Although I have witnessed other men making sexual comments amongst themselves about a woman’s personal appearance, I notice that this behaviour amongst women discussing a man’s physical attractiveness is just as common and deemed much more socially acceptable!” Man, 2nd year university

But the most important question is why, in light of the deepening crisis in young men’s university attendance and educational achievement in general, does the NUS feel that “lad culture” is the most pressing gender issue on campus in the first place?

Since 2010, the NUS has produced a series of high-profile reports, consultations and surveys aimed at revealing what it says is a widespread climate of sexism against female students at UK universities, including a “Lad Culture Summit” in February of this year, covered with live updates on the Guardian website.

Male students a ‘disadvantaged group’

If there is an issue with “lad culture” on campus, then clearly it should be addressed. But the NUS is tasked with representing all of its members – not just female students. So why has it simultaneously downplayed male students’ experiences of sexism and produced no research into the issues facing men at university?

In January this year UCAS reported that there were now a third more girls applying for university than boys, leading the head of the organisation to state that male students are becoming “a disadvantaged group”.

Then in September, exam results revealed the gap had widened even further, with 52,000 less men than women allocated places, jumping from 46,000 fewer places for male students last year.

This disparity hides even starker figures at individual campuses and on particular courses. In 2013, the Guardian published a gender breakdown of students across universities and subject areas, with the conclusion: “The sheer number of female students means that they outnumber boys on the majority of courses, but those most dominated by women include veterinary science and subjects allied to medicine and education.”

What are male students’ needs?

At 20 institutions there were twice as many female fulltime undergraduates as male undergraduates. At Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, the Courtauld Institute of Art and the Institute of Education, respectively 79.5%, 83.3% and 85.7% of undergraduate students were female.

In terms of subject areas, law, veterinary science, education and subjects allied to medicine, respectively 61.7%, 79.5%, 80.4% and 82.1% of undergraduates were female.

These figures beg the question, what must it be like for a young man to be so completely outnumbered by female students? How does this impact on his experience of university? To what extent does this imbalance affect male students’ ability to be heard and have their educational needs acknowledged, particularly in a climate that appears to cast male students as privileged, potential aggressors?

These figures also throw into question the claims by the NUS that there is widespread sexism against female students on campus. On courses and at universities where 80% of students are female, are female students really facing a culture that is “rife” with sexual harassment and sexism?

NUS has no men’s officer

I asked the NUS if they had done any research into men’s experience of university in light of the gender gap on campus, or if they were planning any work to raise awareness of the crisis in male applicants. The press office declined to answer repeated requests for this information. From the list of reports published on the NUS research website, none address male-specific concerns of students. The NUS has a women’s officer, but no men’s officer. The press office said they did not know if there were any NUS men’s officers at individual universities.

This is from the NUS press office response to my questions.

“The plain fact is that there are too few women in leadership positions, whether in the student movement, education, workplace or wider society – and those that are face intolerable barriers.

“Having the post of women’s officer is not much to ask in the face of such inequalities and they are often campaigning on campuses for things men already have. The sexism that women face is part of the system and exists at every level of our lives. It’s important to remember that the remaining posts in students’ unions, often four or five of them, campaign on behalf of men too.”

‘To suggest that men need a specific space to be ‘men’ is ludicrous’

Leaving aside the debatable question as to whether the lack of women in leadership roles is due to the “intolerable barriers” they face, or what exactly the “things men already have” on campus but women don’t are; surely the role of the NUS is to represent students, not to campaign for more women in Parliament or on the boards of FTSE 100 companies?

But the NUS’ underlying attitude to the welfare of male students was most-starkly revealed in 2009 — a year before the first report that led to its anti-lad culture campaign — when students at Manchester and Oxford universities set up men’s societies, to discuss what it means to be a man in contemporary society and address issues such as men’s mental health, testicular cancer and men’s experience of domestic violence.

The societies were ferociously attacked by student women’s officers, with Olivia Bailey, then NUS national women’s officer, stating: “Discrimination against men on the basis of gender is so unusual as to be non-existent, so what exactly will a men’s society do?”

“To suggest that men need a specific space to be ‘men’ is ludicrous, when everywhere you turn you will find male-dominated spaces,” she added.

By “everywhere you turn”, she presumably did not mean virtually every university in the UK.

The stated aim of the lad culture campaign is to ensure that “students’ unions and universities must work together to create campuses that are welcoming, safe and supportive to all”.

It is hard to see how an organisation whose role is to represent all students, yet focuses exclusively on the problems faced by women, while simultaneously vilifying male students and dismissing their concerns, will achieve this goal.

By Dan Bell

Do you think the NUS should be doing more to support male students? What do you think about the lad culture campaign? Are you a student, what do you think of the NUS’ approach to gender issues in general?

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Are “toxic” ideals of manhood why Jamaican boys are falling behind at school?

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In January this year UCAS reported that there were now a third more girls applying for university than boys, leading the head of the organisation to call for boys to be treated as “a disadvantaged group”.  But this is not just an issue for the UK.

Here one of our readers, Wayne Campbell, an educator and social commentator from Jamaica, argues that what underpins the crisis in his country is the pressure on boys to reject anything that is deemed “feminine”, right down to the language of learning itself.

From as early as primary school there is concrete evidence which clearly distinguish our girls outperforming our boys in all the national examinations. For example, in Jamaica, the Grade Four Literacy and Numeracy Tests, as well as, the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) clearly points to girls outperforming boys.

The crisis affecting our boys is not unique to Jamaica. Other Caribbean islands are also experiencing similar issues. Societies such as the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Australia are also grappling with the plight of boys and scholastic underachievement as well as how to address the problem.

‘Boys see school as for girls’

In my view, male underachievement is more a socio-political issue than an educational one.  Social and cultural factors have influence and continue to do so the various ways in which masculinity is defined not only in the Jamaican society but societies all over. Masculinity and what it means to be a man does impact on the education of our boys.

Many boys view the school experience as feminine. Our boys’ life choices are severely circumscribed by the dominant notions of masculinity competing with “multiple masculinities” in the society. For many boys especially in a homophobic and transphobic Jamaican society they are forced to remove themselves from any association with the feminine or curriculum areas related to same. One glaring example is the persistent poor performance of our boys in English Language in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination.

Boys who speak or attempt to speak Standard English are called derogatory names and ridiculed almost daily by their peers. The dominant notion of masculinity in the wider Jamaican society is one in which to speak Standard English is tantamount to being isolated by one’s peers and the accompanying question marks which undoubtedly will follow surrounding one’s sexual orientation.

Wayne Campbell is an educator from Jamaica

Our schools mirror the wider society and also suffer from this. Not surprisingly a significant number of our boys do not readily code switch between the languages, instead they prefer to use and remain with the language of what defines a man to be a man.

The school experience for many boys is already traumatic and therefore who can blame that boy for just fitting in, rather than face the hostile treatment and name calling from his friends. Interestingly, even boys from privileged backgrounds and from homes where Standard English is spoken are now struggling with the English Language as we continue to see the intersection of class and gender and how this impacts the school experience for our boys.

This is compounded by the fact that our boys learn from quite early that having an education is not vital to be successful in life. In fact if we assess success in terms of material possessions in the Jamaican context, the overwhelmingly majority of those men who are successful are those who did not excel at scholastic pursuits.

In fact, many of the men in our society who are seen as “successful” in the eyes of teenage boys, are in fact those who have dropped out of school and fallen foul of the law.

By Wayne Campbell

Wayne Campbell is an educator, poet, blogger and social commentator with an interest in development policies as they affect culture and or gender issues.

Lead image: woodleywonderworks

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Where are young men’s voices in the gender debate?

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Young women’s voices are at the forefront of our cultural conversation around gender issues.

From the banning of Robin Thicke’s ‘Blurred Lines’ by university student unions, to Pussy Riot and the Femen phenomenon, as well as the unexpected up-rising of #WomenAgainstFeminism, young women are speaking out and being heard.

The silence from young men, however, is deafening.

What do they think about this conversation that is, by default, being had about them? Equally, what do they have to say about issues such as suicide, street violence and educational underachievement, that primarily impact upon their own gender?

Here teenage vlogger Josh O’Brien gives his take on the situation.

Why do you think so few young men are speaking out about the issues they face? What do you think the impact might be on young men of not engaging with the discussion of gender that goes on around them and about them? Tell us what you think in a tweet or a comment.

Feature image: flickr/floeschie

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To watch more of Josh’s videos, check out his YouTube channel here.

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