Male privilege: Difference between revisions

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	Thus, biologically "male" privilege is only one of many ] that may exist within a given society,<ref name="Foucault1976">{{cite book\|last=Foucault\|first=Michel \|title=The History of Sexuality, Volume I\|year=1976, Reissued 1990.\|publisher=Vintage\|isbn=0-679-72469-9}}</ref> and levels/manifestations of male privilege differ both between disparate societies as well as in different contexts within the same society. The term "male privilege" does not apply to a solitary occurrence of the use of power, but rather describes one of many systemic power structures that are interdependent and interlinked throughout societies and cultures.<ref name="Narayan"/>		Thus, biologically "male" privilege is only one of many ] that may exist within a given society,<ref name="Foucault1976">{{cite book\|last=Foucault\|first=Michel \|title=The History of Sexuality, Volume I\|year=1976, Reissued 1990.\|publisher=Vintage\|isbn=0-679-72469-9}}</ref> and levels/manifestations of male privilege differ both between disparate societies as well as in different contexts within the same society. The term "male privilege" does not apply to a solitary occurrence of the use of power, but rather describes one of many systemic power structures that are interdependent and interlinked throughout societies and cultures.<ref name="Narayan"/>

	== Compensating for male privilege ==
	Compensation for male privilege takes place in a difficult and ever-changing territory. Most Western countries have enacted ] intended to mitigate the disparity between men and women.

	The courts in many countries are male-dominated and as a result only the more obvious abuses of male privilege are subjected to effective scrutiny and remedial action.<ref name = Baer>{{cite book\|last=Baer\|first=Judith A\|title=Women in American Law: The Struggle Toward Equality from the New Deal to the Present. \|year=1991, Reissued 1996\|publisher=Holmes & Meier Publishing\|isbn=0-8419-1365-X}}</ref>{{Verify source\|date=July 2010}}

	The disparity between male and female rights in some countries makes murder or ritualised rape an acceptable male response to specified female behaviour and, often, similar male behaviour {{Citation needed\|date=December 2011}}. Even in countries that formally enact laws to criminalise ], they are rarely prosecuted{{Citation needed\|date=December 2011}}. For example, ]<ref>{{cite book\|last= Burney\|first=Samya \|title=Crime or custom?: violence against women in Pakistan \|year=1999\|publisher=Human Rights Watch (Organization)\|isbn=1-56432-241-6}}</ref> quotes the ]<ref>{{cite book\|title=State of Human Rights in 1997\|year=1997\|author=Human Rights Commission of Pakistan\|pages=50–51)"}}</ref> as reporting that: "The practice of summary killing of a woman suspected of an illicit liaison, known as ] in ] and ], is known to occur in all parts of the country. The Sindh government has reported an annual figure of 300 for such killings. HRCP's own findings reveal that in 1997 there were eighty-six ''karo kari'' killings in ], Sindh, alone."
	Stein <ref>{{cite journal\|last=Stein\|first=Dorothy\|title=Burning Widows, Burning Brides: The Perils of Daughterhood in India\|journal=Pacific Affairs\|year=1988\|volume= 61(3) (Autumn)\|pages=465–485}}</ref> refers to the guarantees against sex discrimination built into the ]n Constitution, but states that "the most extreme forms of brutality towards women have proved stubbornly resistant to all forms of legal and educational attempts to eradicate them. The past few years have seen the continued growth and practice of dowry which was outlawed in the sixties... and finally in the eighties, attempts to re-establish '']'' as a justifiable practice." Several cases of ''sati'' occur each year, and even when death is avoided, widowhood in high-] ] cultures can still have unfortunate consequences by Western standards. In other countries, women are not allowed out in public unless accompanied by a male relative, to drive cars, or to show their faces. Some of these ] are based on ] laws, and some on long-standing ]. In either case, agitation for change in these ] is generally frowned upon. Several ] and women’s groups, however, have been pushing for change within these countries for decades and, in some cases, have achieved and continue to achieve more equitable systems.<ref name="Narayan">{{cite book\|last=Narayan\|first=Uma\|title=Dislocating Cultures: Identities, Traditions, and Third-World Feminism.\|year=1997\|publisher=London: Routledge\|isbn=0-415-91419-1}}</ref>{{Verify source\|date=July 2010}}

	==Male privilege in the U.S.==		==Male privilege in the U.S.==

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Male privilege is a sociological term developed by feminists that refers quite generally to any special rights or status granted to men in a society, on the basis of their sex or gender, but usually denied to women.

In legal cases alleging discrimination, "sex" is usually preferred as the determining factor rather than "gender", because it refers to biology rather than socially constructed norms which are more open to interpretation and dispute. Greenberg explains that although gender and sex are separate concepts, they are interlinked in that gender discrimination often results from stereotypes based on what is expected of members of each sex. In J.E.B. v. Ala. ex rel. T.B., Justice Scalia distinguished sex and gender

The word ‘gender’ has acquired the new and useful connotation of cultural or attitudinal characteristics (as opposed to physical characteristics) distinctive to the sexes. That is to say, gender is to sex as feminine is to female and masculine is to male.

Thus, biologically "male" privilege is only one of many power structures that may exist within a given society, and levels/manifestations of male privilege differ both between disparate societies as well as in different contexts within the same society. The term "male privilege" does not apply to a solitary occurrence of the use of power, but rather describes one of many systemic power structures that are interdependent and interlinked throughout societies and cultures.

Male privilege in the U.S.

In Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1954, Congress barred discrimination “...against any individual with respect to . . . terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of sex.” Blau and Ferber (1992 at p129) report that the female-to-male ratio of earnings of full-time employees was moderately stable at 60% for the first seventy years of the twentieth century. In 1992, earnings of women who worked full-time had risen to 72% of the average earned by men. The Federal Glass Ceiling Commission (1995) established by President Bush and Senator Dole found that women remained economically disadvantaged. Per the study, 97% of senior managers in Fortune 1000 corporations were males in 1992. Women held only 3 to 5% of senior level management positions. In 2005, women held 46.5% of U.S. jobs, and earned 72% of the salary of their male co-workers (The Economist July 21, 2005). Neumark et al. (1995) and other studies have found major continuing discrimination in recruitment practices, and in the professions, Wood, et al. (1993) found major disparities in pay for equal work. The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (1995) similarly found that, within educational categories, the economic status of women fell short. The average woman with a masters degree earned the same amount as the average man with an associate degree.

The courts and Congress have permitted the use of statistical evidence where discrimination or "manifest imbalance" is alleged, to establish a prima facie case of unlawful discrimination. Such evidence then shifts the burden of proof to the employer to explain the disparity or otherwise demonstrate that the disparity is not the result of discrimination. Critics of this results based analysis claim that it equates equal opportunity with equal results. Similarly, Johnson v. Transportation Agency 480 U.S. 616 (1987), upheld a voluntary affirmative action plan to correct a "manifest imbalance" demonstrated by statistical evidence in the representation of minorities and women in traditionally segregated job categories. Such an affirmative plan is valid so long as it is temporary and does not unnecessarily restrict rights of male or non-minority employees or create an absolute barrier to their advancement. However, few plans have been adopted and the enforcement of anti-discrimination legislation to correct for male privilege generally is patchy.

Lugones (2003) emphasises that racial discrimination aggravates sexual discrimination because it imposes a false identity (more pernicious than a mere stereotype) on women. U.S. culture adopts "whiteness" as the "unmarked", non-racial norm, and establishes different classes of non-white with varying degrees of additional prejudice. The case of Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc., 523 US 75 (1998) should be noted because it applied Title VII to same-sex sexual harassment with the unanimous finding that Title VII bars all forms of discrimination "because of" sex. Such discrimination, whether motivated by sexual desire or not, is actionable so long at it places its victim in an objectively disadvantageous working condition, regardless of the victim's gender. Now, Smith v. City of Salem 378 F.3d 566 (6th Cir. 2004) has extended protection to the transgendered, and also broadened the interpretation of the statutory criterion "sex" to include "gender."

Against the notion of 'male privilege'

The existence of male privilege is not universally accepted. Critics state that women are more privileged than men, or that women are also privileged, but in different ways to men.

Men's rights activist Herb Goldberg, for example, claimed in 1976 that "the myth that the male is culturally favoured ...is clung to, despite the fact that every critical statistic in the area of longevity, disease, suicide, crime, accidents, childhood emotional disorders, alcoholism, and drug addiction shows a disproportionately higher male rate." He sees males as "oppressed by the cultural pressures that have denied him his feelings, by the mythology of the woman and the distorted and self destructive way he sees and relates to her, by the urgency for him to 'act like a man' which blocks his ability to respond ... both emotionally and physiologically, and by a generalized self hate that causes him to feel comfortable ... when he lives for joy and for personal growth."

Conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly and conservative commentator Ann Coulter have argued in the course of their campaign against the Equal Rights Amendment that “of all the classes of people who have ever lived, the American woman is the most privileged. We have the most rights and rewards, and the fewest duties.” As examples, they point to the traditionally nonreciprocal obligation on husbands to financially provide for their wives, and women's immunity from conscription into military service.

Warren Farrell’s book, The Myth of Male Power, which Farrell has himself described as “a 500-page debunking of the myth of men as a privileged class” Farrell points to the over-representation of men among groups such as the homeless, suicides, alcoholics, the victims of violent crime and prisoners. He argues that men disproportionately occupy the most dangerous and unpleasant occupations and that “if a man feels obligated to take a job he likes less so he can be paid more money that someone else spends while he dies seven years earlier, well, that's not power.” In addition, he points to discrimination against men in such spheres as the military draft, family law and the criminal justice system. Far from being privileged, he argues that policies such as conscription, the women and children first convention and the over-representation of men among the most dangerous occupations illustrate men’s status as ‘the disposable sex’.

In those countries with military service, the majority operate voluntary enlistment for both men and women, but in those countries with conscription, the majority exempt women from compulsory service due to their children. In 2000, Sweden considered a measure to require women to perform compulsory military service along with men. In Israel, Jewish and Druze females are required to perform 21 months of compulsory military service while their male counterparts are required to perform 36 months.

References

Render: 2006 at p102
Greenberg (1999 at p271)
J.E.B. v. Ala. ex rel. T.B., 114 S. Ct. 1419, 1436 n.1 (1994)
Foucault, Michel (1976, Reissued 1990.). The History of Sexuality, Volume I. Vintage. ISBN 0-679-72469-9. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
Cite error: The named reference Narayan was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
"US Census Bureau, Personal income forum, Age 25+, 2005". Retrieved 2007-01-20.
(1992) Blau & Ferber, p. 129
(1995) Federal Glass Ceiling Commission
"The conundrum of the glass ceiling". The Economist. 2005-07-21.
(1995) Neumark et al.
Wood, et al. (1993)
(1995) Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs
(2003) MacKinnon
(2003) Lugones
(2005 Chow)
Goldberg, Herb (1976). The Hazards of Being Male- surviving the Myth of Masculine Privilege. Wellness Institute, Inc. ISBN 1-58741-013-3.
^ Schlafly, Phyllis and Ann Coulter (2003). Feminist Fantasies. Dallas: Spence Publishing Co. ISBN 1-890626-46-5. Retrieved 2008-10-20.
Svoboda, J. Steven (12 June 2008). "An Interview with Warren Farrell". Retrieved 2008-10-20.
^ Macchietto, John. "Interview with Warren Farrell". Retrieved 2008-10-20.
"Equality may mean Army service in Sweden".
"CIA World Factbook- Field Listing: Military service age and obligation".

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