A report of the behaviour of people at a conference of the Irish Republic's Equality Authority (EA) :
After the experience of attending a seminar at the 'Equality Authority' in Dublin on Friday I am convinced that the EA are in danger of instigating institutional discrimination themselves.
The only reason for a body like that to exist is to 'counter' any discrimination or prejudice that prevails in society. However the assumption has to be that the prejudice or discrimination is very accurately measured and continuing in a negative direction.
This can only be done if there is a policy of continuous monitoring of the situation through research of the highest order and an assessment based on all the available data by all the stakeholders in society.
This is not even being attempted by the EA. As I showed on Friday by presenting them with authoritative studies which provide results that differ from their own pre-conceived ideas, they are not even interested enough to ask for references. In fact the main section of the participants showed enormous prejudice by rudely laughing at the conclusions drawn by a study presented to the US Senate on June 8 this year which showed that in America, and therefore very likely in the EU, the 27% gender wage gap is accounted for by several measured differences and not at all by gender discrimination.
This has enormous implications as the whole thrust of EA and EU policy is focused on the need to promote women through affirmative action policies at the expense of men.
If the analysis made by the US economist is valid, and there are parallels to here, then any measures promoted by the EA or EU will themselves generate institutional discrimination against men.
When asked who represents the male perspective in the EA we were (again with much laughter) told that men had dominated for so long that they had nothing to worry about. However when questioned further after the seminar the chairwoman admitted that there are two representatives of the National Woman's Council who represent women and girls on the EA Board but none who speak for the views of men and boys.
I am in the process of writing to each of the Board members to ask them directly if they feel the need to represent the male perspective and if they are interested in receiving copies of research that might suggest that the policies in operation are suspect and I will report back. I have also made an appointment to meet with Denis Crowley when I go to Brussels next week and I hope to create an information flow between Europe and here.
One last very serious point is in my conversation with Pronsias de Rossa, I asked him to explain after the event, if as he said males still have all the power, why men and especially boys and young men have increasingly shown their despair with their situations by committing suicide in alarmingly increasing numbers. I showed him the tragic graphs which plot the upward spiral. I will ask him to reconsider his reponse before I go public with it. He said that the reason was that boys and men took their lives because they couldn't cope with no longer being superior to females. This is disgusting rhetoric. To blame these victims like this is the last refuge of a morally bankrupt politician.
It was great to have Sean Kelly, Sean MacSuibhne and Mary Cleary speaking up for the discrimination against men and fathers in the private life and making their points so clearly.
Roger Eldridge, Co. Roscommon, Ireland
19 June 2000
Comment : where do these people get their arrogance from ?