So when's International Men's Day?
Sunday March 12 2006
As this paper reported last month, despite roughly equal numbers of sufferers, "breast cancer research is awarded five times as much funding as that given to research into prostate cancer".
As reported by Reason magazine's Ronald Bailey, America's National Institutes of Health, with several other bodies, will spend about $900m on breast cancer research.
That's more than twice as much funding as that for prostate cancer research, prostate cancer being the most common type of cancer in the US (affecting one in six), despite affecting only men.
This is especially troubling as virtually nothing is known of prostate cancer's cause, and methods of treatment are hotly disputed. Associated Press reported that, per 100,000 cases, almost 20 per cent more men die of prostate cancer than women die of breast cancer.
Men also live shorter lives: Eurostat reported that Irish women's life expectancy, at 81.2 years, is almost five years longer than men's. Men suffer worse and more regularly from mental illnesses, and have worse social networks to assist them in these times.
Outside health, the story is much the same. The Irish Times reported last week that "Irish women are more likely to finish their education and less likely to be unemployed than Irish men", as well as attaining higher numbers in third-level education.
So, why this clear unfairness? Fine Gael TD, Denis Naughten, who first publicised the Department of Health figures for cancer research funding, explained: "Prostate cancer doesn't seem to be a political priority. Men's health just hasn't been given the same attention."
This applies in all areas in life. Quite simply, men aren't playing the victim well enough.
In the State's monopolisation of health, the way in which it allocates research funding is terribly imbalanced. So, while the market allocates in a gender-blind fashion, simply according to hard numbers, the State bows to favouritism. In the world of State funding, men are dying merely because they are not vocal enough lobbyists.
Returning to International Women's Day itself, and the general demands for universal equalities, the origins of the event make for interesting reading. From 1909, the Socialist Party of America and the Socialist International advocated for Women's Day. How wonderfully enlightened they were - just demanding equal recognition.
But, to many feminists, like the Marxist and misandropist fraud Betty Friedan, the struggle is greater than meagre gains like pay parity. While universal suffrage is a good thing, this was one step toward atomising the family and the important ties that strengthen civilisation. And this is reinforced to year upon year of university-student dupes.
It really was quite ingenious stuff: to disagree with equality is contrary to individual rights, but it also disables the highly relevant arguments that accompany this social movement. Guilt by association, I am afraid.
Suffrage also marked the beginning of the acceptability of demanding others to support one's lifestyle. One could command the use of taxation of others without oneself contributing to the exchequer (unlike the family unit, where the much-maligned stay-at-home mother is often the wage-earning husband's backbone).
In effect, the noble aspirations of many social reformers of the early 20th Century, like Emmeline Pankhurst, fuelled and emboldened the counter-culture of the Sixties. By doing so, the radical Left started the rot within the family unit it had always dreamed of.
Much like the proposed position of Minister for Women, the whole concept of having an International Women's Day cannot exist without continuous bugbears. But, just as a government department prime directive is self-perpetuation, the establishment of a day or a department specifically for a sex cannot succeed if there aren't enough complaints to make and targets to reach. They must all regularly review their definitions, lest they publicly admit to attaining results and their public funding be relinquished. But don't worry: like Reagan said, "A government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this Earth."
- John Lalor
