The issue of the incongruity of having a Minister for Women but no Minister for Men is raising it’s ugly head again, with a new campaign blog – The Rights Of Man – calling for the creation of the post.

At first-glance, it’s the kind of idea that looks like the creation of a job for the sake of balancing out the appearance of government. It looks a little bit like political correctness with no particular aim and nothing in particular to achieve. It possibly even seems a little anti-feminist.

But actually, as the blog’s priority list for a Minister for Men shows, there are quite a few predominantly male-orientated issues, just as there are for women:

1. Make improving the educational attainment of boys a priority
2. Make the state recognise/support male domestic violence victims
3. Improve care and funding for prostate/testicular cancer sufferers
4. Make judges enforce child contact orders
5. Support equal parenting laws
6. Provide better help and retraining for unemployed men
7. Force a review of the CSA maintenance criteria where the mother has left her husband for another man, re-married or has simply walked out of a marriage with the children
8. Support anonymity for men accused of rape, unless found guilty
9. Improve care and support for men suffering from depression
10. Campaign against anti-male propaganda and male sterotyping in the media
11. Support equal sentencing criteria for men and women
12. Stop the political disenfranchisement of individual men by abolishing all-women shortlists and priority lists

Whilst I don’t agree with all of those points, it does illustrate that there is real work to be done in the world of masculism. So, as a proposal, perhaps a Minister for Men is not all that silly an idea after all.