Male Matters Author
GENDER VIOLENCE
...It Makes Some Feminists Want a World Without Men...
...But what about women's violence? If feminists (and the media) don't take women's violence seriously, why should men take women's opinions seriously? After all, according to ideological feminists' own definition of hate crimes, violence is merely an opinion acted out, a view expressed by behavior.
Sexual Harassment
"With this I will manipulate your little male brain." But all power carries a price tag.
WHY WORKPLACE AFFIRMATIVE ACTION HAS FAILED BLACK FAMILIES
"Affirmative action” means positive steps taken to increase the representation of women and minorities in areas of employment, education, and business from which they have been historically excluded. —Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
"In recent years, the affirmative action debate has focused on government-sponsored affirmative action and university admissions, leaving corporate affirmative action relatively unexamined." --Christopher M. Leporini
To pay-equity feminists and the mainstream media, this perspective on affirmative action may be the most threatening of all perspectives on any topic. Hence it will be the most ignored by them.
Black Americans have at least one good reason to persist in demanding affirmative action: their wages, which ought to be the true reflection of affirmative action's success -- where the rubber meets the road -- continue to gain poorly on whites’.
Between 1985 and 2000, blacks’ median wage advanced on whites’ by a mere 1.2 percent. Why? Because although “affirmative action programs are often described in the press as being based on ‘racial preference,’” says Dr. Manning Marable, Director of the Institute for Research in African-American Studies, Columbia University, New York City, “the overwhelming majority of those who are the chief beneficiaries of affirmative action are white women.”
Dr. Marable is hardly the only person aware of this fact. In the 2006 book Legalizing Misandry: From Public Shame to Systemic Discrimination Against Men, the authors write, "Although polls have shown considerable American support for affirmative action, those who advocate equality of opportunity (even in a modified form) have criticized it for...conferring greater benefits on white women than blacks of either sex, for whom affirmative action was originally designed."
Citing a statistic representative of many employers up and down the country, a March 1998 press release from the State of Washington’s Office of the Governor informs: “Of Washington state workers who have benefited directly from affirmative action, 60 percent are white women….”
Thanks to the myriad mandated affirmative-action programs at public institutions and at employers doing business with or receiving funds from the federal government, and thanks to the voluntary affirmative-action programs of private-sector employers, white women have done quite well. Compare their wage gain from 1985 to 2000 to other groups'. White men's median wage rose 60 percent, black men's 65 percent, and black women's 70 percent: white women came well out on top with a 78 percent gain. White women's big leap contributed greatly to blacks’ paltry gain on whites.
Feminists in particular strongly support white women’s inclusion in affirmative action. The Gloria Steinemites believe white women experience an oppression similar to blacks'. White women's oppression, say these feminists, stems primarily from the fact that white women have been excluded, like blacks, from “white men’s” jobs.
But unlike blacks, says Warren Farrell, author of Why Men Earn More (read about the book and watch a Real Video of Farrell with audience participation), “Women are the only ‘oppressed’ group…to be born into the middle class and upper class as frequently as the ‘oppressor.’”
Moreover, white women generally have been able to find a well-paid husband roughly to the same degree that white men have been able to find a well-paid job. Via marriage, birth, and inheritance, white women have benefited from white men’s jobs as much as white men themselves. When they divorce, they receive, on average, more child support and alimony than blacks. (The term alimony may provoke cynical laughter among the black women who
consider alimony a privilege reserved for white women.) Recognizing women’s economic well-being, an Editor & Publisher front page in 1996 touted: “Who controls most of the wealth in the nation? Women.” The headline was not, of course, talking about black women. Says PBS's "To the Contrary" : "Women actually control 51.3% of percent wealth in the United States." Women also control, according to American Demographic, consumer spending by a wide margin in nearly every consumer category.
"I regard affirmative action as pernicious — a system that had wonderful ideals when it started but was almost immediately abused for the benefit of white middle-class women. And the number one sign of it is in the universities. The elite schools were destroyed by affirmative action for women, not for blacks." --Author/lecturer Prof. Camille Paglia
Linking white women to affirmative-action goals, right or wrong, has yielded a great irony in an unintended consequence. Just as most white men share their income and assets with white women, most white women reciprocate with white men. More to the point, they share with them their affirmative action gains. This means, possibly, that by virtue of the huge number of white women assisted by affirmative action, white men are the program’s second biggest beneficiaries, despite however often they as individuals may suffer “reverse” discrimination. For every white man hurt by affirmative action, another might be obliquely aided. Perhaps even many of those who are hurt are partially or fully compensated — "under the table," some blacks could argue — when affirmative action rewards their wives.
That white men profit via this roundabout fashion is no secret. “Affirmative action has enabled wives and daughters and mothers and girlfriends to compete in the workplace,” said Ralph G. Neas, former executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, “and that has helped entire families, including white males in those families.” Corretta Scott King, speaking at a Washington County university on Martin Luther King Day, didn’t explicitly say affirmative action helps white men, but implied as much when she said, “So affirmative action benefits all families.” [Why a program to help all families?!]
"Between 1974 and 2004, white and black men in their 30s experienced a decline in income, with the largest decline among black men. However, median family incomes for both racial groups increased, because of large increases in women’s incomes. Income growth was particularly high for white women. The lack of income growth for black men combined with low marriage rates in the black population has had a negative impact on trends in family income for black families." -Economic Mobility Project
Thus, a program that was conceived to help the oppressed appears to help the “oppressors” about as much. Who knows, it may lend a hand to more middle- and upper-class white families than to poor black ones, since a beneficiary’s economic status isn’t a qualifying factor. How many times, I wonder, has the wife or daughter of a well-paid white man been boosted by affirmative action into a well-paid job herself -- a job that might otherwise have gone to a poor but qualified black American? This perversion of justice may occur often, and it would at least partly explain why, despite the strides of many individual blacks, blacks as a group have economically progressed so little on whites. And at a appalling 1.2 percent progression every 1.5 decades, black households won’t reach wage parity with whites' for at least 200 years.
Which group has affirmative action benefitted the least? Black men. Which group was originally intended to be the sole beneficiary of affirmative action? Black men. Shhh! Don't talk about this!
Clearly affirmative action needs a retooling.
~~~~
Afterword: A retooling may also be needed for Social Security, which, says historian/economist Thomas Sowell, "is not a racial policy...but economists who have studied it have long described it as a system that transfers money from black men to white women, given the different life expectancies of these two groups.” You can bet a retooling would have been done long ago if Social Security had been shown to be a system that transfers money from white women to black men.
See also "Plight of Black Men Deepens...." at the New York Times (fee charged to view the entire report).
Update May 19, 2006: For an in-depth, scholarly analysis of affirmative action for women, see the chapter “Women's Rights v. Human Rights: The Case of Entitlements,” in Legalizing Misandry: From Public Shame to Systemic Discrimination Against Men, published April 2006.
Update January 26, 2007: "In reality, the #1 beneficiaries of AA since the 1960's have been White women. #2 beneficiaries the White men in their lives." --comment in a discussion in Duke University's Chronicle.
Interesting post. I believe from first-hand experience what you wrote is
true. However, I also know from experience that Blacks in America have not
fully utilized hard won avenues of opportunity. Bill Cosby recently made a
comment anent this fact. There are issues that need to be resolved within
the Black community itself before greater progress can be realized.
Interesting, but I'm wondering as to the true scope of the difference
between wage increases of different groups. You compare black men, black
women, white men, and white women, but give only the percentage increase.
For example, a man who makes $50,000 per year getting a $1,000 raise would
be getting a smaller percentage than a woman who makes $10,000 a year and
then gets a $500 raise. Furthermore, you don't indicate what specific
factors are taken into account, such as inflation, or more people of the
specified group entering the workforce. I don't doubt that white women
benefit enormously from affirmative action, but I would be interested to
see more comprehensive figures.
David
Interesting article. Yet you assume that every Caucasian woman is married
or is going to get married. Unfortunately there are MANY single women
raising families. It is too bad that Affirmative Action even needs to
exist, you would hope that all races and sexes would be paid equal for the
same job! While Affirmative Action might be benefiting white men as well,
there is no reason that women should not be paid the same!!! Single Mothers
should not have to work 2 jobs to pay the bills because their counterparts
are making so much more. It would be nice if your article did not
stereotype Caucasian women, and gave realistic figures and lifestyles.
Kris, thanks. You said, "...there is no reason that women should not be
paid the same!!" Of course not. Nowhere do I even hint that women should
not be paid the same wage for performing the same job. I do not fault women
for keeping blacks behind, only feminist ideologues who influence
legislation and bully institutions into fulfilling their demands. -Jerry,
Male Matters author
Where this entry comes up short is in how you avoid how White privilege has
been MORE of a detriment to Black families than Affirmative Action.
Housing, banking, employment, access to capital, etc. Plus, White women
benefit more from Affirmative Action than Black folk. If Whites would give
up White Privilege, Black folks would give up Affirmative Action in a heart
beat!
To the Capt.:
Jerry, I'm sure you're a nice guy, but your response to my comment was
typically White male in nature. White American men, in particular, have an
insensitive way of looking at equality. The Constitution, the Bill of
Rights, equal rights etc. are talking points for White males, yet the
enforcement of these ideals isn't important to them. THIS IS WHITE
PRIVILEGE!
Capt., again thanks for commenting.
Jerry, if you live in the United States, television (cable in particular)
and newspapers have been spewing this stuff ad nauseum. If you need a
link, TURN ON YOUR TELEVISION OR READ A LITTLE BIT OF THE NEWS . My
complaint is a given. Racism has become more overt now that Obama has
become the President. We hear this schlock from Republican congressmen and
senators in government, conservative radio talk show host, and media
darlings like Hannity, O'Reilly, Beck, Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, et. al.
Capt., RE: "But you tend to handle those issues as though the White Male is
being damaged by females getting their just due."
Jerry, first, I've never called YOU a racist. I've called you a nice guy,
so let's not make this personal. You do make good points about Affirmative
Action, White women and Black men. You said you were talking gender, but I
don't think you can ever discuss Affirmative Action without including race
- that's why Affirmative Action was initially created. Considering we
STILL live in a paternal society, RACE has always been the White man's
issue (during and after Slavery), where equality/equal opportunity has been
more of a Black concern. I think to blame women regarding AA, while
denying the larger problem of White male racism (not all White men) doesn't
give a clear picture of the problem of Black families.
A Bold New Look at the Sexes
Roy F. Baumeister: Is There Anything Good About Men? (He has it right, mostly!)
He's going round and round because she's going round and round, and she's going round and round because....
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