Are White Males Getting Shortchanged?

American Prowler ^ | 03/05/03 | Marty Nemko

[Pokey78]

Has the pendulum swung too far?

We are constantly urged to make greater efforts to improve the lot of women and minorities. Yet it seems fairer at this point in American history to make greater efforts to improve the situation for white males.

I can hear you laughing. After all, most CEOs and political leaders are white males. But when you leave that top 0.1%, things look different.

I have career counseled almost 2,000 people, and unless they're stars, my white male clients have a tougher time getting hired than do my female and minority clients.

We accept as gospel the widely-reported statistic that women earn 77 cents on the dollar. Fact is, according to research in progress by Dr. Warren Farrell, when all variables are controlled for: for example, actual hours worked, experience, work hazards, commute distance, and performance evaluations, for the same work, women earn more than men.

Yet white males continue to see more and more efforts to help everyone except white males:

Employers often practice reverse discrimination, if only because they fear the EEOC will count noses. And when there's a downsizing, employers resist firing women and minorities, knowing that many of them would file a wrongful termination suit. They have special legal protections; white males do not.

If minorities or women receive less pay or are so-called underrepresented in a particular profession, for example, in the boardroom, women's groups insist it's mainly because of sexism, that white males have essentially erected a glass ceiling through which they allow pitifully few women to seep. Privately, however, even many ardent feminists recognize that the main reason for the low percentage of females in senior positions is that more women would rather balance work and family than work the long hours it takes to rise to the top.

Of course, the media give millions of dollars of free exposure to the sexism argument, for example, unquestioningly promulgating the misleading "women earn 77 cents on the dollar" statistic yet give virtually no exposure to opposing views.

And if men are underrepresented, for example, as they are in colleges -- colleges are now 59% women, 41% men -- you barely hear a peep about it in the media. Professional baseball, football, and basketball are dominated by minorities. Ever hear the media decry the underrepresentation of white males?

Most seriously, men die seven years younger than women, yet there's no call for more spending on men's health. Where are all those advocates who scream when women and minorities get the short end of the stick? They're still calling for more medical studies on women. Every day, it seems, there's another walk or run for breast cancer. When was the last time you heard of a run for heart attack, the main cause of early death among men? The Oakland A's, a team watched mainly by men, have a breast cancer day. They don't have a prostate cancer day or heart attack day. Meanwhile, there are more than four widows for every widower.

The rule seems to be: discriminate -- as long as the ones being discriminated against are white males.

So, next time you hear a plea to support women and minorities, you might save just a little kindness for the no-longer so privileged white male.


Marty Nemko (www.martynemko.com) is a career counselor and columnist for Monster.com and the San Francisco Chronicle. He can be reached at mnemko@earthlink.net.

[thoughtomator]

Absolutely. The US government and the government of the several states I have lived in have all denied me opportunities because I am a demonized white male.

[Justa]

Yeah, government work is a real joy. Being a white male disabled Veteran I'm equalized vs. other job applicants. That is I'm on equal terms for employment consideration. The +5 Veterans preference and the +5 Disabled are what are required to compete with women and minorities for government work. In effect the EEOC assigns -5 for being white and another -5 for being male. In addition it enforces quotas which 100% disqualify a person outside the target group. In that case given my rating a quota will force out other white males before me. It's completely assinine, bordering on segregation.

[Pikachu_Dad]

Great article.

However, he left out that fact that men are routinely discriminated against in the divorce courts. That they are routinely cut off from access to their kids. That the courts engage in 'legal violence' (similar to domestic violence) against us.

That they have laws on the books that allow them to leave us with nothing to eat, nowhere to live, and no hope for the future.

[da_toolman]

Down with Darky! Da Man Has to Go.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Wow. This basically makes the tagline I recently switched to prophetic.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Are whte males being shortchanged? Hmmm... That depends... are we talking Economically, Socially, Anatomically????

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Excuse me. What does "Down with Darky" mean, exactly?

[Chad Fairbanks]

It means that Whitey is no longer Da Man...

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Okay. (I need a lot of things explained to me. LOL)

[lizm_77]

I agree, some of the popular perspectives that hard working white males must endure are pretty harsh and based on fantasy. Why feminists pass blame as opposed to try to equip women with tools to compete should they choose to is beyond me.

[jackbob]

White males who find success easy to achieve, will never have any sympathy for those white males who must struggle for it.

[Texas_Jarhead]

Interesting

[jimkress]

Are White Males Getting Shortchanged?

Is the Pope Catholic?

[TaxPayer2000]

as a white american male I say,

"bring it on!"

the harder I have to work for something, the more I enjoy it.

[BudgieRamone]

If you really want discrimination, try being a college educated white male and being laid off from a good paying, blue collar job with a large corporation...I couldn't count how many times I heard "Sorry we don't hire laid off aircraft workers" or the old chestnut "Well you are overqualified for this position" yet in the same week they would hire individuals of Vietnamese descent that were my co-workers before we were laid off

[t4texas]

At first, I thought this thread was a pitch for Elongate!?!?! Alas, another whinefest just the same . . .

[PFKEY]

If your a white man and your asking wheres mine your not white! your just a n!22*& Men don't ask for things they go and get them no matter what stands in the way! boys sit around and wait for things men make it hapen!

Not exactly how I would have phrased it but you are correct.

Is the white man now another victim group?

Will the liberals start to court them and promise them a teat?

Suck it up boys!

[cyborg]

If your a white man and your asking wheres mine your not white! your just a n!22*&

*I've never heard of n!22*&. What is that? Please translate. Now you said that if a white man asks where's mine, and you say he's not white. What is he then?