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| The men's rights movement has grown and changed in character since the 1980s. Just as the women's rights movement was small and lacked political power during its early beginnings in the 1800s, so the much younger men's rights movement is small and lacking in significant organisation or influence. | The men's rights movement has grown and changed in character since the 1980s. Just as the women's rights movement was small and lacked political power during its early beginnings in the 1800s, so the much younger men's rights movement is small and lacking in significant organisation or influence. | ||
| See also: ] | See also: ] | ||
| == External links == | == External links == | ||
Revision as of 09:51, 10 November 2003
Men's rights began as a recognisable movement in the 1980s, largely in response to the women's rights or feminist movement. It aims to address issues of concern to men and to remove institutional and societal discrimination against males.
Those in the men's rights movement often do not consider themselves to be masculist, and quite often do not subscribe to a recognisable orthodoxy or gender ideology.
Amongst men's rights advocates there are a number of women, including those in significant positions in the movement. For example, Sue Price in the Mens' Rights Agency has been at the forefront of activism to eliminate discrimination against men in Australia. Men's rights advocates are not a uniform group: they include both singularly religious and atheistic individuals, as well as those from the left and right of politics. As in the women's rights movement, where supporters are both heterosexual, and lesbian (especially so in some strands of feminism), supporters of men's rights also include both heterosexuals and homosexuals. However, while the strongest advocates of women's rights are statistically more likely to be lesbian than in the general population, there does not appear to be a higher than normal percentage of homosexuals amongst advocates of men's rights. Most supporters of men's rights are from western nations, where gender equity has for some time been advocated mainly from a woman's perspective.
Some typical issues which the men's rights movement has identified in many western societies are:
- Discrimination against men in family law
- Discrimination against men in areas of procreation
- Legal institutional discrimination against men in employment
- Practices which discriminate against boys in education
- Compulsory military service for males only
The men's rights movement has grown and changed in character since the 1980s. Just as the women's rights movement was small and lacked political power during its early beginnings in the 1800s, so the much younger men's rights movement is small and lacking in significant organisation or influence.
See also: Fathers' rights