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In December 1955, an unassuming
Rosa Parks refused to move on a segregated Alabama bus. Fifty years later, ex-All Black
Norm Hewitt says Kiwi men should do the same. "I think we've really got
to stand up. It's about time men stood up and said: `This is just crap.'
We've got to start pushing back this PC world we're living in." Air New Zealand and Qantas
admitted last week they had banned men from sitting next to unaccompanied
children on flights. Other airlines including United, Singapore, Virgin Blue
and Cathay Pacific have the same policies. Hewitt, father of 20-month old
Elizabeth, and with another baby on the way, said the ban questioned the
integrity of all men, and was overt discrimination. "It's outrageous. What if
they said no Muslims can sit next to kids? Or no Maori can sit next to
kids?" Hewitt likened the distrust of men
to the segregation of back Americans in the 1950s. It was time for men to
follow Rosa Parks' lead. "We've got to action it. If
somebody said to me, `Norm, you've got to move', I'd say 'I'm very
comfortable with who I am, and I'm a father myself, and I'm not going to
move'." Celia Lashlie, author and
campaigner for the importance of men, would not go so far as to say men were
oppressed or distrusted. "My concern is that it's a
symptom and there's a lot of stuff bubbling under the surface." In a society where male primary
school teachers are an endangered species and grandfathers are nervous about
being alone with their grandchildren, Lashlie said men should debate whether
they were content to accept the slur. Lashlie said children were
perceptive, and understood this climate of mistrust. "It's dangerous because where
is a boy going to get the validation that it's OK to be male?" She said most sexual abuse
happened in families and the airline policy was ill-informed. Doctors for Sex Abuse Care head
Jane MacDonald agreed the policy was going too far and indicated a degree of
societal paranoia. Five people complained about the
policy to the Human Rights Commission last week. Commission spokesman Kallon
Basham said the dispute resolution process was voluntary and could take up to
three months. Air New Zealand spokesman David
Jamieson said the airline would meet the commission but made no apologies for
the policy. He would not comment on whether a man had ever harmed an
unaccompanied child on a flight, but said the policy had been industry
practice for many years. Hewitt said appeals to the Human
Rights Commission were not enough. "I'm standing up and saying
`men, get off your ass and get involved'. We've got to start challenging.
We've got to stop talking about it and just do it." Roger Estall, chairman of the Risk
Management Society, said the airlines should weigh up three competing risks
before they set such a policy - the risk of a child being assaulted, the risk
of children developing an unwarranted belief that men are all bad, and the
risk of the child having a positive experience. He said airlines should use a risk
assessment process to ensure they did not replace a small risk with a larger
risk, and called on airlines to make their analysis available, or subject to
peer review. Airlines were right to acknowledge a responsibility for children
but it was broader than they acknowledged. Photo by Kevin Stent: Norm Hewitt with daughter Elizabeth Grace
Taniko Hewitt, 20 months.
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