A new club on campus is arguing that men in U.S. society are not taken seriously enough. According to the Zen Men’s page on the Link the club promotes the male perspective with regard to relationships, parenting, male birth control, and any other issues regarding men, including the family court system’s rulings on divorce and child custody.

The club sponsored a table in the college cafeteria on Oct. 22. Alongside the table was an eye-catching poster with the logo of the group and the motto, “Humanitarian Non-Feminism.”

The club’s first meeting agenda covered the injustice of the family court system, according to their page on the link. At their next meeting, they planned to go over injustices experienced by males due to divorce.

What we should note, though, is that these “injustices” suffered by men that happen in the court system are products of the social expectation that women are homemakers and men are breadwinners. What was it that feminism was trying to do again? Oh yeah, that sexism thing.

The feminist movement seeks to remove the expectations we place on women due to their gender, which include that women be the full-time caretakers of the family. This expectation causes things like female favoritism in divorce and family courts as well as inequality of pay for equal work.

Some look at the feminist movement as an anti-male movement, one that seeks to push men out of the home, out of the family, and out of the work force. Although some women may hold these radical viewpoints, most view the movement as the pursuit of equality between all sexes, such as the effort to remove the expectation that women should be the exclusive homemakers. Women are no longer expected to stay home all day vacuuming, but they often bear the burden of being homemakers as well as holding down a full time job outside the home. Consequently, women in the feminist movement now are arguing that men should be expected to take up some of that responsibility.

The family court does not favor women over men for no reason. Wisconsin Sate Legislature Chapter 767 “Actions Affecting The Family” Subchapter 5 Child Custody Placement and Visitation dictates what judges actually take into consideration when deciding which parent gets custody. They must investigate the conditions at the child’s home or homes, take into account, “Each party’s performance of parental duties and responsibilities relating to the child,” and investigate any other, “matter[s] relevant to the best interest of the child.”

A survey performed by Pew Research, American Time Use Survey (2011) found that mothers still spend more time doing housework and caring for children than men do, exemplifying the burden on women. The court is not favoring the stereotype of the homemaker; they are basing their rulings off of the reality of the matter, that women typically spend more time caring for the child than men do. If a man has taken up the role of the homemaker, the court should then rule in his favor.

The issue though is whether the courts rightly favor the woman. Typically the woman spends more of her time caring for and providing for his or her children. Men can address this by taking more of the responsibility of being a homemaker and prove that to the family court system.

Gender issues such as the ones the feminist movement attempts to address have much to with these men’s issues, but it requires the alliance of men in the recognition of the sharing of responsibility that will change societal attitudes.

Feminism is an integral part of the quest for social equality.