Today – Tuesday 19th November – is International Men’s Day.
While women bear the brunt of continuing sexism and discrimination, men can also struggle unfairly because of gender stereotyping. Societal expectations of what a man should be – stoic, emotionally distant, wholly independent – can bring their own pressures for some. Such expectations can contribute to poor mental health and isolation.
We’re proud to be a feminist party, and feminism is a good thing for everyone, including men.
Liberal Democrats are demanding better. We’re proud to be a feminist party, and feminism is a good thing for everyone, including men.
For starters – fathers deserve much more time off to look after a new baby. Liberal Democrats were responsible for bringing in shared parental leave and one our manifesto promises is to raise statutory paternity leave to six weeks in line with maternity leave.
On health, men in the UK are three times more at risk of committing suicide than women. It’s a serious problem and one that we all need to do far more to combat.
There is no shame in reaching out for support when it’s needed. But when people do, we need to make sure the support is there. That’s why we’ll invest billions of pounds into mental health services so that they can be treated with the same urgency as physical health.
Men’s physical health also needs far more attention – not least because men have tended not to get messages about health promotion and seeking medical advice at the early signs of something not quite right. We need to ensure middle-aged and retired men are encouraged to engage more with their health.
Sexism hurts everyone – we have a duty to stamp it out
Then there’s crime. Young men are disproportionately the victims of crime – whether it’s the current epidemic of serious violent crime, including knife crime, or gang culture more widely.
We need to invest in local communities far more if we are to turn this tide. From youth services to community police and the whole “public health” approach, we need both to give young men alternatives and positive role models and to give them more confidence and protection.
Sexism hurts everyone – we have a duty to stamp it out. Liberal Democrats are leading the fight to ensure a brighter future for men across the UK and I couldn’t be prouder to be part of that.