Discrimination against men
against men based on gender has been observed in various areas, for example in the health and education sectors due to stereotypes that men are dangerous to women and children. In the legal system, men on average receive higher rates of incarceration and longer sentences than women for similar crimes. Research on sexism against men has been limited, and the topic is little discussed due to cultural biases.
Terminology
Discrimination against men is sometimes called reverse sexism. Philosopher David Benatar uses the term "second sexism".Societal attitudes
Researchers Alice Eagly and Antonio Mladinik introduced the women-are-wonderful effect in 1994 after they found that both men and women tend to attribute positive traits to women, with women showing a much more pronounced bias. Positive traits were attributed to men by both sexes too, but to a much lesser extent. They found this trend in their 1989 and 1991 studies, which used questionnaires distributed to students in the United States.In an online survey conducted by Ipsos between 2022 and 2023, 48% of people believed that the promotion of women's rights has gone as far as discriminating against men. Conservative commentators sometimes claim there is a "war" on men and boys. Richard V. Reeves, author of the book Of Boys and Men, writes that a third of American men believe that they are discriminated against, and that South Korean men in their twenties are twice as likely to believe that discrimination against men is more severe than discrimination against women. According to Reeves, this is false, and men's problems are the result of broader societal shifts, not deliberate discrimination.
Workforce
There is limited research about discrimination against men in the workplace, and the OECD often does not consider men when measuring gender equality. Eurofound's European Working Conditions Survey in 2015 showed that 1% of men and 3.1% of women had perceived discrimination in the past 12 months. Discrimination against men in regards to hiring typically happens in occupations which have the gender role of being feminine. One study found that discrimination against men in female-dominated workplaces is more prevalent than discrimination against women in male-dominated workplaces. Employers may consider that men taking time off means that they are not committed to their job, whereas women taking time off is considered normal. Discrimination can also take the form of stricter dress codes for men.For a long time in the United States, the idea of discrimination against men was perceived by lawyers and judges as laughable. However, through the efforts of the lawyer Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the anti-stereotyping theory was developed. According to this theory, sex stereotyping, which is often experienced by both men and women in the workplace, can be considered sex-based discrimination. This approach has become the norm in US judicial practice after a landmark decision Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins. And the decision in Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc. has determined that it can also be considered sex-based discrimination when people discriminate against people of the same sex. The feminist movement has made a major contribution to the promotion of the anti-stereotyping principle.
In 2006 researchers of the English labour market sent out CVs with equal qualifications, ages and experience and concluded that the feminine gender role job of secretaries discriminated against men with hiring, but the study also found 'mixed occupations' with discrimination against men: trainee chartered accountants and computer analyst programmers. Some believe that this may be due to affirmative action.
According to the Observatory of Inequalities, in France men are put under more pressure in work, expected to work long hours and full time and have higher rates of accidents, which was described as reverse sexism.
In a study published in 2019, researchers looked at gender discrimination in 134 countries, and claimed that in 91 of those countries, men were more disadvantaged than women. They argued that the Global Gender Gap measure was flawed as weightings often did not include situations where men are disadvantaged, and due to a low level of research about men. They based their claim about more men being disadvantaged due to levels that disproportionately affect men and boys, such as receiving harsher punishments than the same crimes of women, overrepresentation in the homeless and prison population, compulsory military service, higher levels of suicide, higher levels of drug and alcohol abuse, more occupational deaths, underperformance in education, being overrepresented in dangerous jobs, and experiencing higher rates of physical assault.
Men are often sanctioned in the form of condemnation and ridicule for their interest in traditionally feminine professions. Writing in Frontiers in Psychology, psychologist Francesca Manzi points out that in such cases, discrimination against men is often not recognised, which may be due to traditional gender attitudes that prohibit men from traditionally feminine behaviour.
A meta-study published in 2023 in the Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes journal looking at 361,645 job applications from 1976 to 2020 concluded that selection bias against male candidates in female‐typed jobs had been stable, saying that "selection bias in favour of male over female candidates was eliminated and, if anything, slightly reversed in sign starting in 2009 for mixed-gender and male-stereotypical jobs". The study also asked both laypeople and scientists to forecast gender bias, who did not predict that discrimination against male candidates be stable, and overestimated bias against female candidates.
Nursing
Discrimination against men has been described in the healthcare sector due to gender stereotypes and prejudice. In a study of male nurses educators, discrimination was described as a common practice. It included rejection from patients, rejection to support career prospects from hospital management, and having to pay their own expenses during education where female students received stipends. Negative experiences of male nurses included rejection, discrimination, accusations from patients and families; harassment and lack of support from female colleagues, managers, and educators.After the 'feminisation of nursing' in the 19th century, it became socially inappropriate for males to provide intimate care for female patients, such as inserting a catheter. It was also theorised that men were not fit for nursing because the rough hands of men were "not fitted to touch, bathe and dress wounded limbs". Some people view that male nurses do not confirm to the traditional gender stereotyped role that women are the caretakers, and many consider nursing to be a women-only profession.
In 2006, a male nurse won a discriminatory case against the National Health Service which refused to let him perform procedures on women without a female chaperone. Female nurses did not have this rule.
Teachers
Compared to identical women, male elementary school teachers are perceived as having a greater safety threat to children, less likeable and less hirable.A 2016 survey on the education workplace in Denmark found that 64% of men compared to 39% of women had rules to stop them from sexually assaulting the children, the most common being closing doors while changing nappies. It also found that 10% of men compared to 3% of women were not allowed to be with the children alone and 17% of men reported that there were rules for men only in their workplace. 35% of men and 24% of women had rules constraining physical contact with children, such as kissing and hugging. The survey also reported that 50% of men compared to 15% of women restrained from doing certain activities with children in fear of suspicion of inappropriate conduct. This included not having a baby on their lap, not changing nappies and not kissing a child.
Quotaism
In 2021, the Crime and Corruption Commission of Queensland, Australia, said that due to the Police's strategy on 50/50 recruitment, 200 male candidates were discriminated against. They said that women ineligible for the applied position were selected over men who were eligible.During 2013, the New Zealand Labour Party proposed banning men from candidate selections to reach 50% women in parliament. It was later scrapped after criticism that it was undemocratic.
Education
Historically men received more education than women, but in recent years women have outnumbered men in tertiary education in almost all countries.A study looking at children born in the 1980s in the United States until their adulthood found that boys with behavioural problems were less likely to complete high school and university than girls with the same behavioural problems. Boys had more exposure to negative experiences and peer pressure, and had higher rates of grade repetition. Owens, who conducted the study, attributes this to negative stereotypes about boys and says that this may partially explain the gender gap in education.
People are also less likely to assist males falling behind in grades than females.
Grading bias
Multiple studies have shown grading bias against boys, regardless of the examiner's sex. In these studies, examiners were provided no information about the students apart from their name. This includes a 2004 study in Israel where 9 subjects; in the arts, sciences and mathematics were tested. A 2020 study of junior high schools in Sweden conducted a similar study, estimating a bias against boys of 23% of a standard deviation. Biasses have also been found in Portuguese and French high schools, and a study of 15-year-olds in Czechia, and in Italy. According to a global report performed by the OECD of over 60 countries, girls were given higher marks in comparison to boys with the same ability.A study looking at the perceptions of students by their teachers found that teachers perceive girls as having higher "Persistence, Mood, and " and boys having higher levels of "Activity, Distractibility, Inhibition, and Negative Emotionality".