Towards Gender Equality: Paid paternity leave is needed to address toxic masculinity

Article here. Excerpt:

'In an earlier article, I had written about how paid paternity leave is imperative for gender justice and well-being of children. I argued that paternity leave not only allows new fathers to up their care-giving quotient, thereby reducing the burden on new mothers, it is also great for the development and health of babies as the first few months tend to be a crucial period. Additionally, having paid maternity leave alone skews the field against working women as companies may be less inclined to hire or promote women employees if they see paid maternity leave as a burden.

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In #MeToo era, some lawyers fielding more ‘reverse discrimination’ queries

Article here. Excerpt:

'Certainly the #MeToo movement has raised awareness of the need for gender equality in the workplace, Shilepsky said.

“But for a lot of companies, the concern about inclusiveness and level playing fields has been part of their cultures for a while,” she noted. “Sometimes they get it right and sometimes they don’t, but there are legal ways to promote fairness and opportunity for all. Making room for one group by pushing out another is not legal.”

Employer-side attorney Lisa S. Burton, who practices in Boston, is also seeing more instances of complaints in the #MeToo context, sometimes from men who believe that they did not receive a thorough or fair process before being disciplined or discharged.

“That is where we are seeing more claims: ‘Employers are not giving me a fair shake,’” she said.

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It’s time to end the U.S. military draft, once and for all

Article here. Excerpt:

'We may be months away from ending the U.S. military draft, once and for all.

After a court ruled that the male-only draft was unconstitutional, a Congress-appointed commission has been studying whether to draft women into the U.S. military. The commission will make its report in March, and will likely either advocate for expanding draft registration to women or abolishing the draft, once and for all.

Instead of expanding the draft to women, it’s time to end the draft for all genders.

Drafting women is a deeply unpopular idea. For months, people have been testifying against it to the commission. Even the former director of the Selective Service thinks it's time to get rid of draft registration altogether.

Currently, the U.S. military draft is in a state of dysfunction. For decades, millions of men have refused and/or failed to register.'

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South Korea wants to draft more men for its shrinking military — and punish those who dodge

Article here. Excerpt:

'“The military wasn’t as bad as I imagined it would be ... it was far worse," said Chun, who was forced to serve from 2004-2006.

In South Korea, able-bodied male citizens between the ages of 18 and 40 are required to serve in the military for nearly two years. Refusing the draft means prison time, while dual citizens must decide to serve or give up their South Korean citizenship within the year they turn 18.
...
With a growing population crisis and technically an ongoing war with North Korea, South Korea may start to forcibly conscript more overseas Koreans and foreigners. The government-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses is currently wrapping up research around the idea of drafting naturalized citizens — those who gain South Korean citizenship, but aren’t born with it — to cope with the country’s dwindling number of troops.'

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Ruling Narrows Title IX Obligations

Article here. Excerpt:

'An appellate court’s decision could minimize colleges and universities’ responsibility to provide remedies for victims of sexual misconduct on campus.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that Michigan State University and one of its senior administrators cannot be held liable for student victims’ emotional distress after seeing their alleged perpetrators on campus because the interactions did not lead to further sexual harassment or assault, according to an opinion issued Thursday.
...

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No dating, no sex, no marriage, no kids: South Korea's growing feminist movement

Article here. Excerpt:

'Bonnie Lee doesn’t care about finding a boyfriend or a fairy-tale wedding, and will decide her own happily-ever-after: “I’m a straight woman who is no longer interested in having relationships with men.”

She is not alone.

A growing number of South Korean women are banding together to reject rigid patriarchal norms and vowing never to wed, have children or even date and have sex.

“I’ve always felt that as a woman there are more disadvantages than advantages to being married,” said Lee, a 40-something professional who lives with her dog near Seoul.

Now she has gone even further, embracing the nation’s radical feminist movement called 4B, from the “four nos”: no dating, no sex, no marriage and no child-rearing.
...
But for Lee, the future is female.

She insisted, “My dream is to build housing only for women who plan to never marry.”'

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Joe Biden Promises To Restore Obama’s Disastrous Campus Kangaroo Courts

Article here. Excerpt:

'Joe Biden has learned nothing from the Title IX due process disaster plaguing America’s campuses. The former vice president has released a plan on his website to restore the Obama administration’s infamous 2011 Dear Colleague letter, which Biden’s plan describes as outlining how to “fairly conduct Title IX proceedings.” In reality, the Dear Colleague letter introduced a monstrously unfair process that has forced hundreds of young men to sue for their rights — and reputations — in federal courts.

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2 More False Reporting Cases Dropped in Kansas College Town

Article here. Excerpt:

'Prosecutors have dropped false reporting charges against two more women who reported being sexually assaulted in Lawrence, as questions swirl around the handling of such investigations in the college town.

The cases involve one woman who said she was raped and another who said she was the victim of domestic violence, The Kansas City Star reports. The newspaper inquired about false reporting charges after Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson dropped charges in October against another woman, a University of Kansas student, who said she had been raped by a friend of her ex-boyfriend.'

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Judge approves jury trial against university for alleged Title IX kangaroo court

Article here. Excerpt:

'“A reasonable juror could decide that it is not ‘fair’ to require a student who knows little or nothing to figure out what s/he does not know in order to ask productive questions.”

With this finding and many more, a federal judge refused to dismiss an expelled student’s lawsuit against a Rhode Island university for allegedly running him through a Title IX kangaroo court.

One of the core issues in the lawsuit against Johnson & Wales University is the burden the administration put on “John Doe” to understand the finer details of its adjudication process, as if the student were a trained lawyer. It created confusion for John and benefited his accuser, who faced no such burdens.

Not only did the administration fail to fully explain the process to him, John alleged, but it prevented him from questioning either his accuser or her boyfriend, who brought her sexual assault accusations to campus police.'

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Democratic Bill Aims To Block Title IX Rule Changes Pushed By Trump Administration

Article here. Excerpt:

'A bill introduced in the House Tuesday aims to block Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos from implementing changes she's seeking in Title IX rules.

Four Democratic congresswomen introduced the legislation, as the Department of Education prepares to revise Title IX rules that govern how colleges and universities that receive federal funding handle sexual assault.
...
The Trump administration rules would replace Obama-era guidelines with rules the secretary says would bolster the rights of the accused. The revisions are expected to, among other changes, allow schools to make it harder to support allegations by raising the burden of proof needed to find a student responsible. The changes would also guarantee students the right to indirectly cross-examine each other.'

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Feminism's collateral damage is the breakdown of society

Article here. Excerpt:

'On the contrary, feminism has made women's lives (and by extension, men's and children's lives) immeasurably worse. According to a 2009 paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, “As women have gained more freedom, more education, and more power, they have become less happy."

When this study was released, countless articles and news reports inquired about the irony of it all. How is it possible that women can be less happy after having been "liberated"?

In fact, it isn't surprising at all when you consider that women have been lied to for decades about what constitutes a happy life. Academic and elite feminists, who reside in our universities, in the media, in politics, and in Hollywood, have told women all kinds of things that just aren't true. Things that make women (and by extension, men and children) very unhappy.

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The Buttigieg Campaign Pays Women More Than Men, Buttigieg Press Secretary Says

Article here. Excerpt:

'Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg’s traveling press secretary confirmed Tuesday that the Buttigieg campaign pays women more than men.

Traveling press secretary Nina Smith spoke Tuesday at the POLITICO Women Rule Summit about gender inequality and pay gaps. Smith said women in the Buttigieg campaign are paid $1.11 to every $1.00 men are paid.

The campaign’s move to pay women this much was “very, very intentional,” Smith said.'

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Alberta unemployment rate for young men hits 20%

Article here. Excerpt:

'Alberta’s unemployment rate, especially for young men has rapidly shot up since April.

According to Statistics Canada, over the last few months, the province has seen the rate of unemployment for young men shoot up from one in ten to one in five. Meaning that roughly 20% of Alberta young men have become jobless, outside of a recession. The gender split between men and women for job loss has largely been due to the drop in the oil and gas sector, an area commonly dominated by men.'

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Walsh: Traditional Masculinity Isn’t The Problem. The Attempt To Dismantle Traditional Masculinity Is The Problem.

Article here. Excerpt:

'A recent article from CBS News, based on a soon-to-be-released CBS documentary, asks if there is “a better way to raise boys to avoid toxic masculinity?” The article details the trials and tribulations of parents who want to protect their sons from the horrors of traditional masculinity.
...
The main thrust of the piece is that boys in our culture are broken, and it’s our outdated and “disturbing” notions of masculinity that broke them.

This is all wrong.

The people interviewed for the article, along with the author herself, are perpetuating the very problem they say they want to solve. The real toxic thing is the attitude and approach they embody. Traditional masculinity is not at fault here. What’s at fault is the confused and contradictory attempt to dismantle it.'

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"It's like parenting on steroids": Raising boys in the #MeToo era

Article here. Excerpt:

Ruth Whippman, an author and mother of three young sons, says that as a self-identifying feminist, conversations with her kids about these issues can cause some cognitive dissonance for her.

"I think it's a really complicated time to be raising boys, because as a feminist I don't want to be there saying, 'Oh, boys are the real victims here, and feminism has gone too far.' ... But I think there are some pressures and difficulties, which are very specific to boys in this moment, and they are part of the conversation of feminism and gender roles," she says.

"I think the whole atmosphere has gotten so charged when we come to gender politics, and to defend boys feels like you're somehow denigrating girls, or denigrating feminism, which is absolutely the opposite of what I want to do. And it sort of feels a bit of an 'us versus them' thing, and if you tell one story, you're automatically taking up space that could be used to tell another story. "'

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