Sir, - It is official: men are the superior gender. This is not my opinion, it is the opinion of the judiciary and the Government of Ireland. Last week the Supreme Court supported the Government when stating that a man who had been deserted by his wife was not entitled to the same payment as a woman deserted by her husband.
At first this seems like the judiciary and the Government are discriminating against men. That is not the end of it. In the judgement, the court said that a man was not entitled to deserted spouse's payment because he did not need as much help as a woman in the same situation. So let's look at what happened.
The man had been working in the building trade and his wife was taking care of the house and children. He was deserted by his wife and found that he could not do both jobs so he had stayed at home to take care of the children and the home. This man's normal position in the family would have been as a provider. So he changed his position from provider to home and child carer. The courts have now found that a man in this position has a superior capability to a woman who has done this all her married life, or a woman who finds herself in the same position as he did. The court rules that in a woman's case, she would need help, but a man would not.
This can only be taken to mean that the man is of superior ability. This gets worse. Not only does the Supreme Court say that women are inferior to men, it goes on to discriminate against children. This man's two children, who, through no fault of their own, found themselves without one parent, are provided with less money for their care simply because their mother deserted their father instead of their father deserting their mother. So, it is official: our Constitution is sexist, our Government is sexist, and our judiciary is sexist. For good measure, they all discriminate against children. God help us all. - Yours, etc., Tony Tuite, PRO,
Parental Equality, Dublin Road, Dundalk.