POOR BOYS FAILED BY SOCIETY

The disadvantage that poor young
boys experience in schools is merely a
reflection of how society treats them
more generally. It has to be said that
a key reason underlying this situation
has been the growth of feminism.

Feminism increasingly defines the 
identities of young, mainly working
-class men. Middle-class followers

of the feminist movement have

successfully skewed society to 

reflect their own, continuing, anti-male 

agenda. Divorce law, including financial

settlements, child custody and one-sided

anonymity in cases of alleged sexual 

impropriety are examples 

Endemic since the 1980s, it is a process

that has been given added impetus by

accelerating economic and social

change. It has happened at a time

when Britain has been transformed

into a service-focused economy.

The result has been the greater 

empowerment of women in the 

workplace over the past fifty years.

They have benefited from improved 

educational opportunities and the

ability to control their fertility. It has 

meant growing financial independence 

from men, not only for those in work, 

but also for young, single mothers who 

have been prioritised for housing and 

receive attractive state benefits.

Along with this has been the changing 

perception of what is meant by a 

nuclear family. It is a complex and 

fluid picture. Marriage continues 

to decline with 42% of marriages 

ending in divorce. 

Serial monogamy and cohabitation 

between single-sex couples are 

common. Gone is much of the 

stability and certainty of family life 

in the 1950s.

In its place are more fragmented 

environments, often devoid of the

influence of paternal role models, 

which are so important in the 

development of the male identity.

Feminist opinion-formers in 

politics, education, the law and 

especially in the media are not 

seeking a comapact between the 

sexes, but female preferment, in 

the form of positive discrimination. 

The impact of the corrosive influence 

that the feminist lobby has had on 

female attitudes to men has been 

profound.

In education, where only 12% of 

primary school teachers are male, 

the predominantly female culture 

cannot, nor in many cases would 

it seek to, encourage the 

development of the male identity 

as such. 

Female characteristics are seen as 

good, male as bad. Many male 

graduates are put off teaching 

by the threat of being falsely 

accused of improper behaviour, 

the consequences of which are 

often devastating. 

Gender bias continues into 

secondary education. Some ten 

years' ago, Jenny Murray, presenter 

of the BBC Woman's Hour, asked 

a guest why boys outperformed girls 

in GCSEs. She was told that boys 

responded better to the pressure of 

an examination, whereas girls 

preferred coursework.

Murray's reply was that if that was 

the system, then change it. It was,

leading to less rigour, which 
undermined the credibility of the

examination in schools and further

up the learning chain in higher

education. 

This background provides many of
the root causes for many of the 

chronic social problems that 

disadvantage young men. They 
leave school with inferior or no

qualifications, poorer job prospects

and face unemployment. 

Dismissed as potential husbands, 

fathers and providers by young 

women who are supported by the 

state, they feel unwanted and 

express growing anger. 

Greater tolerance in society for 

generalised 'men are useless' 

statements, jokes, advertisements 

and so on, than would be used to 

refer to any other group, reflects a 

situation for which there is an 

increasing human and economic 

cost. 

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