On 17th November 2020, The House of Commons published The International Men's Day 2020 briefing with several links to FNF.
The Debate Pack, produced quickly after the announcement of the parliamentary business, is intended to provide a summary and overview of the issue being debated and identify relevant briefings and useful documents, including press and parliamentary material. We are glad to see that FNF has been mentioned among the organisations which contributed to the debate and that a few links to FNF sources have been included when discussing both parental alienation and shared parenting.
International Men’s Day has been part of the mainstream annual events calendar in the UK since 2010 (it was first created in 1992 in Trinidad and Tobago). The UK has the most International Men’s Day events than anywhere else in the world. In the UK, International Men’s Day is overseen by the Men and Boys Coalition.
The event gives everyone who wants to celebrate International Men’s Day the opportunity to help work towards shared objectives which are applied equally to men and boys irrespective of their age, ability, social background, ethnicity, sexuality, gender identity, religious belief and relationship status. In the UK, International Men’s Day has three positive themes:
- Making a positive difference to the wellbeing and lives of men and boys
- Raising awareness and/or funds for charities supporting men and boys’ wellbeing
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Promoting a positive conversation about men, manhood and masculinity.
These core themes help to address some of the issues that affect men and boys in the UK such as:
- The high male suicide rate
- The challenges faced by boys and men at all stages of education including attainment and re-skilling
- Men’s health (including male cancers), shorter life expectancy, infertility and workplace deaths
- The challenges faced by the most marginalised men and boys in society (for instance, homeless men, boys in care and the high rate of male deaths in custody)
- Male victims of violence, including sexual violence
- The challenges faced by men as parents, particularly new fathers and separated fathers
- Male victims and survivors of sexual abuse, rape, sexual exploitation, domestic abuse, forced marriage, honour-based crime, stalking and slavery
- The negative portrayal of men, boys and fathers
On Thursday 19 November 2020, there was a Backbench Business Committee debate in the Chamber on International Men’s Day sponsored jointly by Philip Davies MP and Ben Bradley MP.
There have also been four previous debates on International Men’s Day in the past: 2015 (Westminster Hall); 2016 (Commons Chamber); 2017 (Westminster Hall); and 2018 (Westminster Hall)
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