Sex Discrimination
Statutory sex discrimination
Other than protective legislation for women, most statutory sex discrimination is against men. Examples include:
- State pension ages – the present unequal ages of 65 and 60 for men and women will not be fully equalised until year 2020
- Pension age-related social security benefits – the present inequality will continue until year 2020
- Liability to national insurance contributions – the present inequality for employed people over 60 (women are exempt from age 60) will continue until year 2020
- Lump sum payments for deferred state pension – the present inequality (women start to qualify from age 60, men from age 65) will continue until year 2020
- Widowers benefits - men widowed before April 2001 have no claim to any social security survivors benefits before that date
- Child benefit - wife or mother has priority of title over husband or father: there is also no mechanism for apportioning the benefit when both parents share care of the child(ren) after parental separation
- Guardian’s allowance – wife has priority of title over husband
- Imposition of ‘all-women’ shortlists for parliamentary and other representative elections
- Lifelong anonymity for alleged victims of sexual offences (usually female) but none for a defendant (usually male), nor his family, even if found innocent
- Almost no government funding for male victims of domestic violence: government funding to local authorities in respect of domestic violence is essentially to help female victims only [see Male Victims of Domestic Abuse].
