The UN and Feminism...

Carey Roberts on bias against men at the UN.

But there's another scandal that people are trying to keep under wraps -- the fact that dozens of agencies and offices sprinkled throughout the vast U.N. bureaucracy have become base camps for ideological feminism.

Feminists view every human issue through the lens of gender and power. So whatever the problem -- poverty, disease, or a shortage of parking spaces - the standard refrain of the Sisterhood is "Down with the patriarchy!"

At the U.N., benign male-bashing has become distant memory. What now passes as normal feminist discourse at the United Nations ranges from outright gender prejudice to high-octane bigotry that resembles an Andrea Dworkin rant.

The bias begins at the top. At a 2003 International Women's Day observance, Louise Frechette issued this categorical imperative: "all our work for development -- from agriculture to health....must focus on the needs and priorities of women." But not men or children?

Ms. Frechette, by the way, is Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and reports directly to Kofi Annan.

Carol Bellamy, former UNICEF director, once made a similar plea for Africa: "Women are the lifeline of these southern African communities. They put the food on the table, and they're the ones that keep families going during such crises." As a consequence, according to the UNICEF press release, "Women and children must be at the center of response to Southern Africa's humanitarian crisis."

Last December the UNAIDS published its report, Women and AIDS. It is not possible to describe the gender vilification that oozes from this document, but suffice it say that it reads like a master's thesis from a Women's Studies program. The U.N. refugee program issued the following plea on its website: "The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees...One million women and children...homeless, hungry, helpless...Their only help is you."

Does that mean men are never homeless, hungry, and helpless? Or that their plight simply deserves less sympathy?