New reports on sexual harassment and promoting social mobility may make some men feel disadvantaged.

The American election has been dominating the press lately.  Claims of sexual harassment by Donald Trump made headlines around the same time that the Universities UK Taskforce examining violence against women, harassment and hate crime affecting university students released their report: Changing the Culture.  Whilst this received some coverage in the UK press, it was only a brief flare of interest compared to the ongoing saga of the US election.  Even less noticeable, was the release in mid October of the 'Working In Partnership: Enabling Social Mobility In HigherEducation' Report that aims to improve "education and career outcomes for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, from black, minority and ethnic groups, and for disabled students" (Universities UK).  Both of these reports contain a number of recommendations as to how universities can improve the univeristy experience, and indeed access to it, that will hopefully lead to positive changes in these areas.

Whilst it is regrettable that there is a need for such reports in today's society, an even more disheartening fact is that promotion of equality for all can make some men feel that they are being discriminated against.  As outlined in this article published in the Harvard Business Review, there is a proportion of the white male population that views the promotion of opportunities for women or minority groups as automatically having a negative effect of them - regardless of whether or not this is true.  And to get back to the election, there even appears to be a relationship between which white american men will hold this view and their voting preferences; with republican males more affected.  Mind you, perhaps that shouldn't be all that surprising given their choice of role model.  In fact, the report states, there is also a correlation between those who feel discrimated against, the strength of support for Donald Trump.   However, given that the feeling of being discrimated against can increase group coherence (ie an increased prevalence to feel close to those of the same gender or race), perhaps it is not just Trump's behaviour that appeals, but simply the fact that he is not female.  Of course, this does not imply that all of Trump/s supporters feel disadvantaged by increasing opportunities for women and minority groups; it is simply interesting to see how the psychology of feeling discrimated against can influence one's belief system and behaviour.  With election day looming, I wonder how much these issues may influence the outcome?