Article here. Excerpt:

'This will be an exceptionally sad Father’s Day for millions of divorced and separated fathers and the children who love them and need them. Many dads have lost their jobs or suffered significant drops in income. Because it is difficult for fathers to get their child support orders modified downward, many decent, loving fathers are being jailed because they can’t keep up with their child support obligations.

Ed O’Donnell, chairman of the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Family Law Executive Committee, says that it “usually requires in excess of six months before a judge will say, ‘[The job loss] is possibly a real change in circumstances’… Six months is a long time, when you’re desperate.”

This problem is creating many outrageous, well-documented injustices.

Have a good one, or at least try to, you poor miserable bastards!

Article here. Excerpt:

'A "man-cession." That's what some economists are starting to call it. Of the 5.7 million jobs Americans lost between December 2007 and May 2009, nearly 80 percent had been held by men. Mark Perry, an economist at the University of Michigan, characterizes the recession as a "downturn" for women but a "catastrophe" for men.

Men are bearing the brunt of the current economic crisis because they predominate in manufacturing and construction, the hardest-hit sectors, which have lost more than 3 million jobs since December 2007. Women, by contrast, are a majority in recession-resistant fields such as education and health care, which gained 588,000 jobs during the same period. Rescuing hundreds of thousands of unemployed crane operators, welders, production line managers, and machine setters was never going to be easy. But the concerted opposition of several powerful women's groups has made it all but impossible. Consider what just happened with the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Press release here. Excerpt:

'This weekend members of the National Organization for Women (NOW) cast their votes for a new team of leaders to direct the largest grassroots feminist organization in the country over the next four years. NOW delegates elected Terry O'Neill, who served as the group's membership vice president from 2001 to 2005, to succeed President Kim Gandy.

Gandy will retire from her office on July 20 due to the organization's term limits; she has been a leader in NOW for 36 years, with 22 years of service at the national level, including the last eight as president.

Article here.

'WASHINGTON (WANE) - Senator Evan Bayh is trying to address an epidemic he calls Absent Fathers in America.

He's proposing responsible fatherhood legislation. The father of two is working with President Obama to get the bill passed. Senator Bayh says it will help pay for job retraining, literacy programs and employment services to counsel and help non-custodial parents. Plus, it will strengthen child support collection efforts.

Bayh says implementing the bill will cost about $3 billion, but in the long run, it may reduce the amount of money the government already spends helping single-parent families.

The president has pledged to sign the bill into law if it reaches his desk.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Kuala Lumpur — EDUCATION experts have criticised the affirmative action in favour of girls, saying it has sidelined boys' access to education.

The experts noted that while countries had made tremendous progress to bridge the gender gaps in schools, more boys were performing poorly in class compared to the girls and dropping out of school to look for employment.

"For years, we have focused on women. But the worst that can happen is that the global phenomenon might start making policies of affirmative action for the boys," remarked Dr. Fatiha Serour, the director of youth affairs at the Commonwealth Secretariat.

According to Serour, evidence that girls are outnumbering boys in schools had created a stir in some countries.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'The Greens want to toughen up laws against sexism in advertising.

Greens’ women’s spokeswoman Judith Schwentner said today (Fri) so-called self-control exercised through the advertising council had had little effect and had done nothing to prevent sexism in advertising.

Schwentner called for a new law against sexism in advertising, noting Denmark and Norway both had such laws on the books. She said her party would present appropriate legislation in parliament in the autumn.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Despite the recent success and growth of the LSU women's soccer team, the abundance of men's talent is left to compete at the club level. On top of that, with the recent addition of the Baton Rouge Capitols, the lack of a college men's team forces the city's own pro soccer team to look at other colleges for recruiting purposes. The absence of a men's soccer team at LSU is mostly due to Title IX, which, ironically, is supposed to be equal opportunity promoting legislation.
...
Jamie Krebs of Southern Illinois University's student newspaper, "The Alestle," reiterated Bentley's concerns: "While 5,800 athletic opportunities have been added for women in the past ten years, more than 350 National Collegiate Athletic Association programs involving about 21,000 male athletes have been terminated since 1991. That's roughly ten percent of the male athletes participating in that period."'

Article here. Excerpt:

'When it comes to offering men and women equal opportunities to play sports, close may no longer be good enough.

Judges have typically ruled that universities are in compliance with the federal gender-equity law known as Title IX if the proportion of athletes who are women is within 5 percent of the representation of women in the total enrollment.

But a settlement announced Wednesday between the University of California-Davis and three female athletes holds the university’s athletic officials to a stricter 1.5 percent standard and could influence similar cases around the country, according to lawyers who are knowledgeable about gender-equity cases.
...
Under the settlement, Davis has 10 years to bring female participation in varsity sports to within 1.5 percent of their proportion of the overall student population. According to federal education statistics, female athletes made up about 50 percent of Davis’s athletes in the 2007-8 academic year, but 56 percent of its student population.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Ministry statistics provide ample evidence of the gender gap that has been observed by many during grad ceremonies. One set of statistics — the number of students receiving $1,000 provincial scholarships for excellent Grade 12 exam results — shows that hundreds more girls than boys win every year.

Last year, the tests found that 19 per cent of Grade 4 boys in B.C. and 14 per cent of the girls weren’t meeting expectations in reading. The figures were similar for writing with 23 per cent of boys and 13 per cent of girls not making the grade. In math, 21 per cent of boys and 22 per cent of girls weren’t up to par.

Boys had slipped from the honour roll to the suspension list, and not just in Burnaby. Figures from around the province confirmed that female students were much more likely than male students to be successful in school.

Story here. Excerpt:

'Michelle Farley apologized to her family, friends and "family of teachers" for having an inappropriate relationship with a 17-year-old student last year.

"I want to apologize to (the teen) and his family for the embarrassment and hurt I caused," the former Borah High philosophy teacher said. "It hurts me that I have hurt so many people because what I did was so wrong."

Farley left the courtroom in handcuffs Friday, on her way to the Ada County Jail, where she could spend the next six months after pleading guilty to a charge of felony sexual battery of a minor.

Fourth District Judge Timothy Hansen told Farley she can ask for an early release once she completes a class on "thinking errors" at the jail. But she will spend the next decade on probation, have to undergo sex-offender treatment and pay a $2,000 fine. '

Story here. Excerpt:

'They and their supporters say the current legal system is biased against fathers and that new laws could eliminate the creation of an unnecessarily adversarial relationship between parents.

State Assemblyman Michael Benjamin, D-Morrisania sponsored legislation this year that would create a
The bill will not make it out of committee before the end of the session next week, but Benjamin said he's already speaking with the chair of the Committee on Children and Families about organizing a roundtable discussion on the subject this fall.

The bill will not make it out of committee before the end of the session next week, but Benjamin said he's already speaking with the chair of the Committee on Children and Families about organizing a roundtable discussion on the subject this fall.

“I think it's an issue that's important to fathers and I think fathers should have some consideration when it comes to custody cases,” he said.

Article here. Excerpt:

'As Fathers' Day looms, is it really the case that working dads get a raw deal from employers?

That's the conclusion of a survey from careers website TheLadders.co.uk, released to coincide with (/shamelessly cash in on) Fathers' Day this weekend. It proclaims that 72% of executives think UK companies should review and revise their company policies to help them be better fathers. According to the survey, men think being a father also makes them a better employee - yet they still don't feel comfortable asking for time off for paternity leave and family commitments. But given that some men don't even realise they're entitled to paternity leave, it suggests that employers may not be entirely to blame...

Article here. Excerpt:

'I asked some friends to share their thoughts on gifts they received from their fathers:

A social worker: "My father cared about others and was always doing things for people. He believed in the importance of family, not just in the immediate sense but in the larger sense of all of humanity. My father taught me what is important in life."

A political activist and employment agency founder: "My father's ability to beat the odds in the face of adversity and his zest for life are the things I remember most about him. He suffered congestive heart failure in 1981 and in 1982 ... the doctors told us he wouldn't survive. He changed his diet, lost 30 pounds, stopped smoking and drinking, and lived an additional 11 years. Sometime later I was the Democratic candidate for representative in my state and he became one of my most enthusiastic supporters. He died suddenly at 81 in the midst of my campaign. I miss him every day."

Article here. Excerpt:

'The benefits of having a positive, involved father are well-documented by decades of research.

Now, scholars are focusing their microscopes on an obstacle to fathers' involvement: "gatekeeping" by mothers who control or hamper fathers' interactions with their children.

The findings reveal how women and men alike can trigger gatekeeping, which can cause tension between partners and dissatisfaction with parenting routines. As Father's Day nears, the research also sheds light on how dads can play a bigger role.

"The more we understand these patterns, the more parents will be able to make conscious and deliberate choices" about parenting, says Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan, assistant professor of human development at the Ohio State University.'