In a politically correct world, MP’s fight for men’s rights is a lonely one

In the Commons, MPs were marking International Men’s Day – an occasion, said Philip Davies (Con, Shipley), to “celebrate the contribution that men make” and “highlight the discrimination and inequalities that men and boys face”. One of his colleagues, Sir Paul Beresford (Con, Mole Valley), said an area of particular inequality was health.

Men, he noted, were more likely than women to suffer from heart disease, strokes and obesity. On average they died younger than women, too. “I think about this,” he said, “every time I struggle to open a door for a lady.” Watch out, men. Chivalry can kill.

Mr Davies, the MP who organised yesterday’s debate, has long been recognised for his passionate views on gender equality. Men and women could be equal, he has said, if only it weren’t for “feminist zealots”, and “the politically correct males” who “pander to this nonsense”. At a conference in August for men’s rights activists, he complained that while “we hear plenty about increasing the numbers of women on company boards and female representation in Parliament”, there is “a deafening silence” when it comes to “the number of men who have careers as midwives”.

In yesterday’s debate, he complained about what he called “the part-time gender pay gap”. On average, he said, women in part-time jobs were paid six per cent more than men were – “an issue I’ve never heard mentioned before”. Yes, it does seem unfair, the way women hog all the juiciest parttime jobs, while men have to make do with the vast majority of high-paid, high-status, full-time jobs.

Sadly, not all Mr Davies’s fellow MPs appeared impressed. The SNP proved particularly irksome. When Mr Davies argued that courts were biased against fathers, Joanna Cherry (SNP, Edinburgh South West) had the temerity to ask whether he knew of any empirical research that showed this. Mr Davies accused her of engaging in “a gender-bashing exercise”.

This did not endear him to his opponents. Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh (SNP, Ochil & South Perthshire) said that in effect every day was International Men’s Day, and observed that the number of female MPs in the entire history of Parliament was lower than the number of male MPs currently sitting. Mr Davies sniffed that she was “trivialising” the debate “by talking about women instead of men”. Personally, I have no doubt that Mr Davies is sincere when he talks about the problems men face: unemployment, poverty, depression and more. It might be added, though, that some men rely on benefits, yet Mr Davies voted to cut them. Some men live in substandard housing, yet Mr Davies argued that a law requiring homes be fit for human habitation would be an unnecessary “burden” on landlords. Some men are gay, yet Mr Davies voted against gay marriage.

But perhaps that is just more politically correct nonsense.