MENZ Issues: news and discussion about New Zealand men, fathers, family law, divorce, courts, protests, gender politics, and male health.

Press Release: New Zealand Law Society

Parents should not be able to defend charges of assault against children by claiming they were using ‘reasonable force’ to correct a child, says the Chair of the New Zealand Law Society’s Family Law Section, Simon Maude.

He was responding to the jury’s acquittal in Timaru of a mother charged with assault for giving her son six strokes with a cane and a separate charge arising from striking him with a horse whip. She was found not guilty because of the statutory defence in section 59 of the Crimes Act 1961, which allows parents to use reasonable force when disciplining children.

Simon Maude said the acquittal reinforces the Family Law Section’s view that the statutory defence should be repealed.

“Modern understanding of the cyclical nature of domestic violence and the harm it does, demands that our law no longer condones parents using violence against children,” he said.

The Family Law Section has already written to the Government expressing its opposition to the law in its current form and has offered to help draft appropriate replacement legislation.

Women fill the roles of Governor-General, Prime Minister, Chief Justice, Speaker and the heads of our biggest listed company and our second-biggest bank.

Labour MP John Tamihere told Investigate magazine last month that the most powerful network in the ruling party was “the Labour Party wimmin’s division … it’s about an anti-men’s agenda”.

Men, it seems, are reeling from the shock of it. Former Lifeline director Bruce Mackie told a men’s summit at Waitakere this month that more men than women were dying of cancer, heart disease, accidents and suicide because of “a crisis of the spirit”.

When women are throwing themselves off the Sky Tower and into the paid workforce, taking the risks that men used to take, men are left wondering what their role is.

“They are not nurturers any more, and we are not protectors. Everything has changed,” says Father and Child Society president Philip Chapman.

Well, poor old men, you might say. At first sight their complaints look laughable alongside the figures on the next page, showing that, below the very top level of business and politics, men are mostly still in control.
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Technology, economic and demographic forces and official policies are all transforming the roles of men and women faster than men, at least, have kept up with.

Former Women’s Affairs Minister Margaret Shields, who is convening a national women’s convention in Wellington next weekend, says the organisers initially planned a joint conference of men and women to celebrate 30 years of social change since a big United Women’s Convention in 1975.

“But men really weren’t ready,” she says. “On the whole, men haven’t had to be half as reflective as women, because they were kind of in charge.

“I would really welcome similar meetings for men to look at what they see as their vision for society, so we can get further ahead.”
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Women run the country but it doesn’t show in pay packets

Thirty years of feminism have transformed New Zealand, but below the very top level, men remain in charge.

Figures collected for the Weekend Herald by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs show that women have moved into paid work in massive numbers since a United Women’s Convention in Wellington in 1975. Back then, women accounted for 32 per cent of total employment; now it’s almost half (46 per cent).

But when 500 women meet for a new national convention in Wellington next weekend to review 30 years of progress, the score will be mixed.
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Equal Opportunities Commissioner Judy McGregor, a former editor of the Sunday News, said when she looks at her former profession 20 years on, she doesn’t see many more senior women than in her day.

Press Release: Ministry Of Women’s Affairs

Women’s safety in the home and their ability to participate as fully in the workforce as they choose are the priorities for the Ministry of Women’s Affairs during the next three years.
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The Ministry’s Statement of Intent 2005-2008 released today says that the Ministry is pursuing a range of policy projects that enhance women’s participation in the workforce but balances this participation with their roles as carers. Economic well-being for women is essential, but with the second major goal of the Action Plan for New Zealand Women being work-life balance, women’s overall well-being must respect their caring responsibilities. Work on childcare, paid parental leave, retirement savings, housing and businesses owned and operated by women are also important.
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Chief Executive Shenagh Gleisner said the Ministry has made significant progress in the last year in building its capability so it can have a positive influence in the three focus areas of economic independence, work-life balance and well-being.

Child, Youth and Family has housed six children a month on average in motels and backpacker hostels because of a shortage of caregivers.

Figures obtained by The Dominion Post under the Official Information Act show that 54 children in CYF care were placed in motels, backpackers and guest houses from January to September last year.

CYF said it could not provide details on how many nights each child had spent in motels as the information was held in individual files.

However, separate figures suggest the department is spending tens of thousands of dollars on putting children up in motels and similar accommodation, and paying for their food, as stays can be lengthy.

Children in CYF care who stay at motels or backpackers are accompanied by around-the-clock minders, who are paid between $10-$17 an hour.
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The department had launched a nationwide recruitment campaign to boost the number of caregivers around the country.

National MP Judith Collins said it was “totally inappropriate” for children who had been removed from their homes because of possible ill-treatment to be “holed up in a motel room with a TV and nothing else”.

Ms Collins also said it was appalling that CYF did not keep records on how much it spends on putting children up in motels.

More than 70 children in Child, Youth and Family care have been removed from their foster parents after allegations that they had been physically and sexually abused by them in the past two years.

The figures, released to The Dominion Post under the Official Information Act after seven months, show that 34 children alleged physical or sexual abuse against their foster parents in the year to June 2003, and 41 made claims in the year to June 2004.

The department initially said it did not keep such statistics but its specialist video unit eventually provided the figures. However, the unit does not deal with all complaints or abuse allegations. It records interviews only after strong concerns of abuse, which can then be used as evidence in court.

CYF said there was no central record of how many claims had been substantiated, but said it was working to install a system that would make the information available.
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In the year to June 2004, six children said their foster fathers had sexually abused them, 18 said their foster mothers had physically abused them and 17 alleged their foster fathers had physically abused them.
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The figures come after eight CYF workers were sacked for “inappropriate behaviour” at work last year.

The Family and Foster Care Federation has begun a pilot scheme aimed at providing support for foster carers who face allegations of abuse.

Australian and New Zealand researchers have identified a treatment which cuts the chances of prostate cancer returning by 60 per cent.

The 10 year Trans-Tasman Radiation Oncology Group (TROG) trial on 800 men with inoperable prostate cancer found a period of hormone therapy before radiotherapy could help stop the cancer returning.

The treatment also cut the chances of cancer spreading to other parts of the body by a third.

Chairman of the 96-01 trial management committee Jim Denham said it was great news for men with prostate cancer.

“What we have found in this trial is (that) a relatively short course of hormone treatment and radiotherapy together will not only cut the chances of the cancer returning to the prostate, but stop the cancer from spreading,” Professor Denham said.

“That’s really good because it’s the spread that kills the men.”
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Prof Denham said prostate cancer affected just as many men as breast cancer affected women.

In Australia, 10,500 men get the cancer each year, and 2,500 die from it.

“We heard the other day that Kylie (Minogue) is just one of 30 women each day who learn they’ve got breast cancer,” Prof Denham said.

“It’s exactly the same with prostate cancer, 30 men every day learn that they have got prostate cancer.

“About four out of 10 of them find themselves in this boat.”

Witnessing a loved one give birth, especially for the first time, is both an anxiety provoking and exhilarating experience.

Yet for many fathers childbirth was not the joyous experience they hoped for. Having a baby is an extraordinary event in a man’s life, but many men do not receive the support they need. Some suffer from symptoms resembling post-traumatic stress disorder.

“ There is no published research on how post-traumatic stress disorder following childbirth affects fathers,” says Associate Professor Gillian White.

“ We know that a small percentage of women suffer a distressing birth yet we know little about what it is like for fathers who witness a traumatic birth.”

“ It is important that men’s feelings are recognised for proper advice to be offered,” she says. Dr White and Gregg LaHood are looking for men who are willing to tell their story of witnessing their partner give birth in a situation which caused prolonged stress.

It does not matter how long ago the experience was or which child it involved.

Participants can write their stories down in a letter or email attachment. Alternatively they may wish to record their stories on tape or speak to one of the researchers personally.

“When a new mother is unwell or unhappy it affects all the family,” says Professor White.

“Similarly if the new father is feeling stressed and traumatised following birth it affects his partner and family also. By learning more about what fathers experience, health professionals will be able to provide guidance and avoid potentially serious consequences.”

For further information contact: Associate Professor Gillian White G.White@massey.ac.nz

The New Zealand Herald
PO Box 32
Auckland
New Zealand

The Lace Curtain

During the cold war the Soviet Union embraced the ideology of communism and kept control by excluding contrary view points, it became known as the “Iron Curtain.” Feminism has imposed its ideology on all areas of our society to the exclusion of other points of view. This has been termed by opponents as the ‘one party’ view of gender politics… “The Lace Curtain”.

In your paper Jenny Kirk illustrated a narcissistic perspective that is typical of women brought up through the Women’s Movement. The juxtaposition of the evolving men’s movement is strikingly different.

Men do not want to exclude women in their quest to have equality in their access to parenthood or their access to the Government Health purse. However, at the recent Men’s summit it was obvious through the evidence delivered that men and boys are trivialised in our society.

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First I read the Editorial about Benson-Pope (NZ Herald Thursday 19.5.2005) and then Garth Georges column, on the opposite page, both deliberating about the teaching practices of our associate minister of education

The Editorial started by developing the theme of excessive behaviour. The Protocol being described was distinctly male, the Process described was excessive, but they need to be distinguished, and were not. In this era the method by which this would have been dealt with was by accountability – (a distinctly male protocol as opposed to the female protocol of claiming to be a victim, traditionally their first line of defence.)
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The Wake of the Feminazi

Spring tide of political diffusion
Flotsam in the house
Born of a sea of confusion
Raised by the depths of uncertainty.

Man or mouse, Women or louse
Leaders stand strong – the selfish rest
Be honoured for a future
That delivers our children its best.

Bevan Berg.

Police are warning all men who frequent clubs, parties local pubs and singles organisations particularly on the internet to be alert and stay cautious when offered a drink from any woman. Many females use a date rape drug on the market called “Beer”. The drug is found in liquid form and available almost everywhere. It comes in bottles, cans, from taps and in large “kegs”.

“Beer” is used by female sexual predators at parties and bars to persuade their male victims to go home and have sex with them. A woman needs only to get a guy to consume a few units of “Beer” and then simply ask him home for no strings attached sex. Men are rendered helpless against this approach.

Many times these unfortunate men are swindled out of their life’s savings in a scam known as a “relationship”. In extreme cases, the female may even be shrewd enough to entrap the unsuspecting male into a longer term form of servitude and punishment referred to as “marriage”.

This can produce a dangerous situation where a part of your soul is removed and placed in a baby. Servitude and punishment can then be administered well after “marriage” is finished.

Please! Forward this warning to every male you know. If you fall victim to this “Beer” and the women administering it….. there are male support groups where you can discuss the details of your shocking encounter with similarly affected like-minded guys. For the support group nearest you, just look up “men’s rest homes” in the Yellow Pages.