Disproportionate Rights Men Have to Deal With

 

1. Selective Service Registration: In the United States, only men are legally required to register with the Selective Service System within 30 days of their 18th birthday. Failure to do so can result in ineligibility for federal student loans, federal jobs, and citizenship. This is a legal obligation imposed solely based on sex and is often cited as a clear example of sex-based discrimination against men.

2. Parental Rights at Birth: A mother's parental rights are automatically established at the birth of a child. A father's rights, particularly if he is unmarried, are not. He must take active, legal steps to establish paternity to have any rights regarding custody, visitation, or decisions about the child's upbringing. This has led to advocacy for automatic parental rights for fathers listed on the birth certificate and for stronger protections against "paternity fraud."

3. Presumption of being the Primary Financial Provider: While this is more of a societal expectation than a legal "right," it heavily influences legal matters like alimony and child support. Historically, and sometimes still today, courts may operate on a presumption that the man is the primary earner, which can place a disproportionate financial burden on men after a divorce, regardless of the woman's earning capacity.

4. Workplace Safety in Dangerous Occupations: Men overwhelmingly dominate professions with the highest rates of workplace fatalities, such as logging, fishing, roofing, and construction. While everyone has the right to a safe workplace, the reality is that men are far more likely to die on the job. Advocacy in this area focuses on greater attention and resources for safety in these male-dominated fields.

5. Bodily Autonomy in Reproduction: A woman has the sole legal right to make decisions about her body during a pregnancy, including the choice to have an abortion. The biological father has no legal right to compel or prevent an abortion. This is sometimes referred to as the concept of "my body, my choice" for women. Men's rights advocates point out that men do not have a corresponding choice; they cannot opt out of the financial and legal responsibilities of fatherhood if the woman decides to carry the pregnancy to term. This has led to proposals for a "financial abortion" or "paper abortion," where a man could legally waive both his rights and responsibilities to the child at an early stage of the pregnancy.

It's important to see these issues not as a demand for "superior" or "exclusive" rights, but as a call for equal consideration and the removal of disadvantages that uniquely affect men. The overarching goal of modern rights movements is to achieve a society where universal human rights are a reality for everyone, which includes addressing the specific struggles faced by all groups.