The text below is a translation of a French article by Mr. Mario Dumont. Food for thought:
https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2019/12/18/quelle-place-pour-les-problemes-des-hommes
“We will remember that 2019 was an exceptional year for feminism. The feminist discourse occupied a large space in the public eye. Feminist rhetoric has imposed itself in rereading history and in understanding the present.
There is a solid reason: for years, women did not have their place and young women did not have the same opportunities. The rise of a new feminist discourse among young people has been well felt in recent years. It also comes with some radicalization.
Young women cannot be blamed for wanting to push the last limits of a search for equality. They also cannot be blamed for wanting to put an end to the distressing and revolting episodes of violence against women. Several women were killed again this year, in unspeakable circumstances.
I still allow myself to see the consequence of the rise of a more radical feminist approach. It becomes forbidden, or even insidious, to speak of men’s problems. The insinuation of the feminist outcry is that men are fine. Power, money, happiness, the white man of America is doing particularly well. The young man sees a life full of promise ahead of him.
However.
Troubling figures
In Québec, slightly more than three-quarters of suicides were committed by men.
According to data from recent years, three-quarters of the homeless people are men.
Boys are 13% less likely than girls to graduate from high school after the mandatory five years of schooling. If you add two more years to complete high school, the gap decreases, but remains 10%.
One in four young men will leave school without a high school diploma. What does the job market hold for them in this knowledge economy?
The unequal university
Men now represent only 42% of university students. They are a minority in 9 of the 10 major fields of studies, including pure sciences.
Only in the applied sciences, men remain the majority. This is seen as a major problem to the point that the government is funding a program called “Hats off to you (or Chapeau les filles)”.
Does anyone worry about the very small number of men, who do not even represent a third of graduates in more than half of the major fields of studies? Nothing seen.
In a report in which we see the dominance of women at universities, the Council on the Status of Women (Conseil du statut de la femme) questions the wage gap that persists for a diploma said to be equivalent. This is indeed a valid questioning. But who wonders about the under-representation of men at universities? And what about their quasi-disappearance from a large sector such as health? No one.
The real question is the following: is it acceptable to speak about men’s problems? Am I committing a social outrage by signing this text?
I remain optimistic. Perhaps we are approaching the day when we will elect as Prime Minister [in Québec, this means the Premier] a woman, mother of boys, who will dare to name their issues for their future.”
