Are there any areas in the law where men & women should be given different rights?

Question

The only one I can come up with is when it involved maternity leave. I believe moms should get a bit more time off to allow their body to rest/recover after giving birth---other than that, men & women both need time off to bond with the child.

I already know I'm going to get the venting answers of current unequal treatment. Vent if you must, but please answer the question also!

Answer 1

Men and women need different rights in areas that deal with reproduction. This is because it is simply impractical for both to have the same rights, since they have radically different roles in the process.

Please note, that if a man ever can get pregnant I fully support his right to have an abortion, get full maternity leave, etc.

Answer 2

Unless there are complications during birth, the only thing a woman really needs time off from doing after birth is sex. After the first week or so, the body is quite capable of getting back into the old routine. Too much time off from normal duties after a normal birth is detrimental, I think. The time off from work that women get should have more to do with bonding with the child and adjusting to the night time routine then trying to give her a break physically, and since I feel that way, that means that the maternity and paternity leaves should be exactly the same. Giving birth is a physically trying experience, but the body is made to handle it and recover from it rather quickly. If not, we would have died out as a species before we even got out of the caves.

Answer 3

Start paying for dates. That's his choice. If he doesn't want to pay, then he can always ask someone else for a date. - Fight to have rape and domestic abuse laws require actual proof beyond a woman's word, no matter how much crying and sobbing she does. I doubt there's ways to give 'actual proof', not sure exactly what kinda proof you'd consider good enough. I think if these cases weren't based on what lawyers bicker about, we'd all be better off though and the truth would be easier to see. - Have women stop their ******** mind games used to manipulate men. Manipulative people aren't controlled by gender. - Stop whining and crying about "sexist" jokes and remarks when women say similar things all the time about men. Agree, unless it's done at work maliciously. - Drop your pre-conceived notions that the world has it out for women. Accept responsibility for yourselves. Agree, everyone should be responsible for themselves, even women *gasp* haha =o) - Drop your pre-conceived notions that men are sex-maddened pigs who only want one thing. Not all that many women have this opinion, but the ones who do should get real, for sure. - Stop thinking that men have no emotions. Same as above. - Stop hitting men if you don't want to be hit back. Lesson learned while I was in my teens. Hope other women who are dense learn the same lesson. It's totally ridiculous. - Protest when a woman is given a lesser punishment than a man for the same crime. Happens A LOT. Can't stand that. - Stop assuming that a man who is nice to kids is a pervert. Kids are a tough one, it's not fair but that's gotta be a huge fear for parents. Stranger danger and all. I don't think it's a great fear or sensible, but can understand it. Though they should have a healthy fear of women who are abusers as well. - Stop affirmative action. This is favoritism and discrimination plain and simple. Where is affirmative action in the female-dominated industries, hmm? No need for equality there I suppose. This one's iffy. - Stop publishing hate-speech about men (alot of feminist literature) while censoring men who say the same. Not informed enough about this one. Seen a lot of crap from both sides. A lot of what people are up in arms about that I have seen, I can't understand. Seems harmless to me, or done clearly as a joke, not a real belief. - Let a man stay home and be the housekeeper/childrearer or whatever term you want to apply to that role, and let the woman be the breadwinner. Also, stop chastising men who want to do so. I don't even want children, neither does my partner. So I'm good. This is a persona choice everyone needs to make for themselves, as long as they take care of their kids I don't care who's home with them most often. - Finally, stop playing the sexism card when you don't get that job you applied for. Never did, not gonna start now =o)

Answer 4

Not legally.
If "all men were created equal", and assuming that women are included in the statement based on the 14th amendment, having any laws that differentiate between men and women is unconstitutional and thereby, illegal.

"Few people would object to these ideals. Indeed, when the occasional celebrity is acquitted of a crime seemingly due to social prominence or wealth, a general outcry arises that the system is "broken" or has been "subverted." Others worry that members of certain racial or ethnic groups receive excessive attention from the police or more severe punishments than do individuals from other groups. The sense of outrage and disgust generated in such cases demonstrates the level of general commitment to the fact that in this one area, at least, special favors and unfair penalties are anathema in a society dedicated to justice.

Unfortunately, this principle is rapidly forgotten or overlooked once the issues move beyond our courts. In some very basic realms of life, the notion of "equality before the law" was long ago abandoned and relegated to the cobwebs of history. What is even more (sadly) ironic is that many of these violations of justice have been perpetrated in the name of a distorted idea of "fairness." Both state and federal legislatures continue this subversion in a spiraling number of areas and with increasingly minute control.

Unlike citizens in other aspects of their lives, business operators are not free to act according to their own best judgment and then face legal entanglements only if and/or when they are suspected of violating someone's rights. No, our politicians believe that without up-front restrictions on what business owners can and cannot do, they will run rough shod over the customers upon whom they depend for the survival of their enterprises. While ordinarily people are granted the presumption of innocence, those running businesses are, in essence, assumed to be guilty and thus deserving of control before they have even produced or sold their first widget.

The kinds of rules and demands under which they are forced to operate amount to a kind of prior restraint; an illegal approach in other contexts. For example, compare this with writers working under the protection of the First Amendment. The government is forbidden from scrutinizing a newspaper, magazine, or book prior to publication and preventing its distribution. No such scruples, however, are evident in the zeal of federal and state agencies in probing into every aspect of a business's operation and dictating what is proper or improper in its activities."

Answer 5

I think we need to look at maternity leave in a different way.
There are MEDICAL reasons why a woman needs several weeks to recover from giving birth, which have nothing to do with bonding with her newborn.
She would require almost the same time to physically recover if she gave the baby up for adoption. I say "almost" because if she gave up the baby for adoption, she would be able to get more rest and her body would heal a little faster in that case, since she would not be compromising her healing by attending to her newborn's needs.

Introducing "bonding time" clouds the argument. I believe fathers should be entitled to some non-medical parental leave upon the birth of a baby. This is _different_ from medical leave that the mother needs to heal her body.

Edit: Some of the men seem to be crying for equal time, so I thought I'd expand my answer.
1. Maternity leave, as we know it, should be eliminated.
2. A woman who gives birth should be entitled to an appropriate amount of MEDICAL leave to heal. The duration of this medical leave would vary, depending on the actual circumstances of birth (vaginal /C-section/complications). Only a doctor can determine the amount of healing time needed. Some may get 3 weeks, some may get 7 weeks. It would depend upon their individual medical condition. This would be the same kind of leave any employee receives when there is a health condition that warrants it--broken bones, heart attack, elective surgeries, etc.
3. FMLA should cover all the other needs a family encounters upon the birth (or adoption) of a child, since it was developed to address the needs of an employee acting in the role of caregiver. Both men and women are entitled to the benefits of FMLA, and it can be used to care for ANY family member... newborn, elderly or accident victim.


I can't think of any other areas where either gender should have different legal rights.

Answer 6

Lioness, I commend you for asking a question like this. This is the kind of thing I have been asking for here.

I personally cannot think of any reasons why there should be a legal separation of rights as guaranteed under the law. But then, I have not given this full thought. As with issues related to civil rights and the struggle that minorities have had overcoming the disparities in economics, there may be instances where women are provided similar legal compensation in the pursuit of objectives previously denied them, solely on the basis of their sex. I will give this some more thought.

Shingoshi Dao

The condition of childbirth is a limited one. Beyond that, I doubt there would be many other conditions for which women should merit unique treatment under the law. The problem with your question is that the more reasons you find for legal merit to justify special treatment, the more reasons you establish for those who say women are inferior to men. You can't have it both ways.

THE MORE REASONS YOU ESTABLISH FOR SPECIAL TREATMENT, THE MORE REASONS YOU ESTABLISH FOR INEQUALITY.

Answer 7

None that I can think of.

Regarding maternity/paternity/parental leave, moms getting longer parental leave than dads is plain wrong IMO.

Currently in the US, both parents get the same amount of leave (FMLA, albeit unpaid).

However, to make it a law that mothers get more time than fathers assumes that the father's time with the child is less valuable than the mother's.

The physical recovery time runs concurrently with the initial time home with the newborn. So, the additional recovery time issue is moot.

The time that mom is recovering is the same time that a newborn needs to begin the bonding process, with both his/her parents.

I am OK with females getting extra consideration various situations, but a true feminist would not be. (Ms. Lioness, I realize you are not strictly aligned with any ISM).

EDIT to Ashley:

The physical recovery takes place at the same time (concurrently with) the initial bonding time with the child.

Unless you are saying that the mother's initial bonding is more important than the father's?

The father and mother can spend that same six weeks (or however long) with the kid, even though only she gave birth.

EDIT II - ASHLEY

Do mothers only need 2 days with the baby in order to "bond just fine"

Or, is it only fathers that only need 2 days?

Answer 8

Yes. Everywhere.

Equality will never be achieved. Its only a dream. Like peace in the middle east.

Men will always favour themselves... and women will always favour women. At the end of the day... its all about survival.

Without survival... you have. NOTHIING.

Answer 9

Maternity leave, contraception, abortion, medical examinations and genuine consent, breast feeding in public. The list is centered around a Woman's "Right to Choice".
Perhaps what We should really be looking at is where Women's rights are actually enfranchised and guaranteed by law. Where in the U.S. Constitution are Women's right assured and deemed to be sacrosanct? Find the answer to this inequality and You will surely have struck a blow for Women's 'Rights' as they stand today!

Answer 10

There are laws that are different for men and women. Like abuse women can hit men all they want a man cant even push a women hardly. And i agree with the maternity leave that women should get more time, but there not too much i can say about that since i am a man and don't have any children.

Answer 11

Pregnancy is not that big a deal. It is hyped. All mammals and other animals do not take maternity leave and fend for themselves and find food to eat and carry on with the general way of life until about 30 minutes before birth. They then give birth, wait for about 30 more minutes and carry on with their life as if nothing has happened. This is a biological process.

Biologically, women are not only given the burden of pregnancy, they are also given the proper physiological and psychological extra design for getting it done. This “extra” already given to them should nullify any need for extra manmade rights or privileges.

Just kidding, I think women should be given lots of extra rights and privileges and if possible an extra set of boobs on her back too.