The general practitioner and columnist of France Inter has no tongue in his pocket again. This Monday, April 18, he expressed his anger at the gender stereotypes he observes every day in his office and more specifically the absence of men, those who “assume they are not fathers”. An honest and powerful chronicle.
You know, this “cliché of the single mother who raises one or more children alone because the father has left and chose freedom over his responsibilities” † For Baptiste Beaulieu, who receives people into his office every day, the cliché is all about reality. But as a good scientist, the France Inter columnist wanted to check whether his observations in the field are reflected in the statistics. And there, no doubt: single-parent families represent 24% of the families In France. 82% of them are single women with childrenINSEE said. What irritates one of the most listened to doctors in France.
He explains : Chosen or suffered, single parenthood remains a major factor of insecurity and one of the main drivers of poverty in France, where 1.3 million people live in single-parent families below the poverty line. In fact, single women are more affected by insecurity than their male counterparts.
“In equal circumstances, single mothers are poorer than single fathers, with the latter being much less affected economically. They are less unemployed, benefit from executive functions that are better protected by law, and are much more likely to own their homes.”
Baptiste Beaulieu, on France inter
A self-denial that commands respect
The observation irritates him all the more when the men “are not the last to question the right of women to freely dispose of their bodies, both with the Pill and with voluntary termination of pregnancy, even though they will not directly suffer from desired unprotected parenthood”†
Mental stress, contraceptive stress, insecurity… These are the things many women are exposed to on a daily basis. Baptiste Beaulieu, however, wants to show them his respect and admiration.
Read again:
“(…) As a physician, I am a little tired of welcoming into my medical practice the need of these SO MANY precarious women who face it all, all alone, with a dignity and self-denial that commands respect.”
“At the same time, they have no choice. These women didn’t become widows the day they gave birth, did they? The child’s father did not die in childbirth. He just decided not to accept what the two of us can cause when we lie in bed enjoying the good things in life.
And to finish: “In our society, men enjoy far more privileges than women, simply because they are born with testicles and a penis.”
A chronicle to listen in full on the site of France Inter.
Did you like this Baptiste Beaulieu column? Check out this other rant entitled, “I’m Tired of Boys, But Tired, Tired, Tired.”