Life lessons
Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2016 12:20 am
Male refugees settling in Britain should be given lessons about female equality, a Labour MP has suggested.
Thangam Debbonaire, who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on refugees, said the move could be part of a national drive to improve male attitudes towards women.
Debbonaire said that new arrivals need a “sensitive” introduction to a different culture. The MP, who has just launched an inquiry into the experiences of new refugees in the UK, drew parallels with concerns in Germany after some migrants were accused of sexual assaults at New Year’s Eve celebrations.
“What I don’t want is for the British people to respond to a case of assault or sexual harassment by saying no to more refugees, which seemed to be what the public’s response to Germany was in danger of becoming,” the MP told the Daily Telegraph.
“We need to think about how we have those men understand what is expected of them without pretending we ourselves are perfect. It would need to be sensitively worked out and could be part of a nationwide campaign to help men and boys in general to look at gender equality in a different way.”
Debbonaire said the lessons could be like personal, social and health education (PSHE) classes in school. “I’m not saying there’s a little ticket you can give incoming men. But I do believe we need compulsory PSHE classes in schools for all young people and an appropriate version for new arrivals,” she said.
“All men need this education. Our indigenous population is not a haven of gender equality and you could have a situation where boys who have settled, just arrived, or been born here, would all get the same information on how they should interact with women.”
The suggestion has been made after the outgoing Ukip leader, Nigel Farage, was condemned during the referendum campaign after claiming women could be at risk of sex attacks from migrants.
