What about the boys?
June 8, 2009Both boys and girls have issues, but boys seem to be the ones getting the raw deal. According to Judith Kleinfeld, professor of psychology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in the US, issues affecting boys are more serious than those affecting girls, but they have been neglected by policy makers. Her review (1) of issues characterizing American boyhood, how they compare to those affecting girls, and the lack of initiatives in place to address them has just been published in the June issue of Springer's journal Gender Issues.
Professor Kleinfeld's paper reviews the different viewpoints surrounding the debated existence of a so-called 'boy crisis'. She then looks at gender differences in measures of educational achievement including literacy levels, college entrance tests, school grades, engagement in schools, dropout rates, as well as psychological issues affecting young people including mental health, suicide, depression and conduct disorders. Lastly, she shows how boys and girls compare in terms of premature death and injuries and rates of delinquency and arrests.
According to Judith Kleinfeld, boys get the raw deal. Compared with girls, American boys have lower rates of literacy, lower grades and engagement in school, higher drop-out from school, and dramatically higher rates of suicide, premature death, injuries, and arrests. Boys are also placed more often in special education. Girls on the other hand are more likely to have different problems including depression, suicidal thoughts and eating disorders.
The researcher argues that although there have been numerous federal, state, school district, and foundation programs aimed at addressing issues faced by girls, led in part by the strong feminist movement, the same cannot be said for the problems encountered by boys. In her view, they have been largely neglected.
Professor Kleinfeld concludes: "In terms of policy discussion and educational investments, the nation is addressing gender differences which barely exist but ignoring gender gaps which are substantial. Policy attention has focused on the supposed underachievement of females in mathematics and science but these gender gaps are small. In contrast, substantial gender gaps are occurring in reading and writing which place males at a serious disadvantage in the employment market and in college…. Both boys and girls face gendered problems which need policy attention."
Source: Springer
Apr 11, 2008 |
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In corporate America we have Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs) and Woman Business Enterprises (WBEs). MBEs and WBEs are granted special privileges to bid on contracts for the government and large corporations, such as Toyota and P&G.
Search for this on Google:
minority supplier council
women supplier council
You'll find all kinds of government entities and non-profits created to simply channel funds to MBEs and WBEs.
The same discrimination exists among many colleges and universities and civil service employers.
Women who not as individuals but as a group wish to have door opened, the heavier boxes carried will face all the pro's and con's of the fairer sex issues. It doesn't matter if you personally don't want it if as a group it is prefered you are stuck with it.
The african american community if the youth chose to dress as thugs and gangsters congratulations you've effecitively sent your message you wish to be a thug so be prepared to be treated as such. Even for those who successfully become integrated in society are denigrated by thier race and called oreo's black on the outside white in the middle.
For a successful integration I offer you the Irish when they arrive they were poor and starving. Physically distinctive they worked hard as a group they've mainstreamed and being Irish mostly important only at St. Pats. Before I hear the tired arguement that they physically blend in I ask you to consider are you seriously looking at a fellow whose face if filled with freckles, whose head looks like it is on fire and telling me they are white and all look alike?
If you want true equality give me unisex bathrooms on no checkbox for race on job applications.
I learned in male female communication class that boys were conditioned as children to not ask for help and to view it as a sign of weakness and female behavior. A girl who stands up for her gender and demands fair treatment is considered strong. A boy who complains about unfair treatment is considered a sissy.
There are many ways to discriminate, not all are overt. Each gender has its challenges. However, even today, women have not achieved pay parity with their male counterparts doing the same jobs (irrespective of the employment being traditionally male dominated).
What is clear today beyond gender and race discrimination no matter which end you look at, globalization is the real threat to availability of jobs and human rights associated with working, property ownership, personal freedoms and privacy.
We're looking at trees in front of our house while there is a raging forest fire behind it rapidly approaching.
I would not be a woman for all of the cash in the world. I like being a guy, but I suffer no illusions about what men have done to women over the eons.
Now,today, an entire generation of women will face poverty and abandonment in their old age. I expect suicide rates will rise. That will be met with glee by some whose myopia sees no merit except in themselves.