While I’ve always harbored a secret desire to participate in a riot, this article is not meant to incite one. I simply want to start some intelligent public dialogue about an issue that is close to my heart. That said, I anticipate that I’ll be receiving some hate mail for this.
The feminist movement made great strides for women over the last 50 years. It is still a valuable movement; Across all generations, there are still problems facing women that require real solutions. Yet for young Americans, the pendulum of gender inequality has swung the other way.
For Americans under 30, women measure higher in almost every aspect of psychological, professional and personal well-being than their male peers. Girls’ academic performance is better than that of boys in every field except math and science, where performance is about equal, according to recent research from UC-Berkeley and UW-Madison.
The statistics continue at the collegiate level. According to a 2005 report from the Department of Education, in 2003, 57 percent of college students were women and 43 percent were men.
For young women just entering the workforce, the glass ceiling has shattered. In its place a new glass ceiling is being built. Data from the Bureau for Labor Statistics shows that for Americans under 30, women are employed at much higher rates than men. In 2009, for the entire 16 to 24 age group, 85.1 percent of the female labor force was employed, while only 79.9 percent of men were.
Years of media coverage have pounded the phrase “men make more money than women” into our collective head. But the data for young people shows a completely opposite picture. A study of 2005 Census data by researchers at Queens College showed that in big cities, women under 30 now make much more money than men their age, to the tune of 20 percent more in Dallas and 17 percent more in New York City.
In an article published last summer in The Wall Street Journal, titled “Guys Left Behind,” Hillary Clinton’s chief strategist Mark Penn wrote, “Men continue to outstrip women in most of the downers of life.”
Penn cited a number of these “downers,” including pay, unemployment and academic performance, as well as prison population, life expectancy, obesity, alcoholism and drug dependency, traffic accidents, and a lack of political and consumer influence. He wrote that policy change, funding and research are needed to address these issues. However, the real problem is the complete lack of popular awareness that young American men face these kinds of inequalities.
Previous attempts to promote awareness have been met with bitter opposition from some feminists; ASU saw this firsthand when the unfortunately-named group Caucasian American Males of ASU was shut down in 2006. The level of organization and funding for women’s advocacy towers over the sorry state of men’s advocacy, and this is unfair. It is the equivalent of having a legal team composed of Johnny Cochran, Alan Dershowitz, and Clarence Darrow, all arguing against a public defender fresh out of law school — the newbie could be representing a client with a valid case, but there is no way he isn’t going to get pummeled. To create true equality, men need a strong voice also.
Ryan is oppressing people at ryan.m.sweeney@asu.edu
