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Henry Herrera: +1-301-801-0608

Email: info@endtodv.org

UN Human Rights Chief Needs to Retract Foolish Comment about ‘Patriarchal Barriers’

August 4, 2025 – Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, recently made the claim that “patriarchal barriers” are impeding the progress of female athletics (1). The same day, July 16, the United Nations issued a report in which Türk asserted that LGBTIQ+ women “face barriers and discrimination in the women’s sporting world.” (2)

Of course, “LGBTIQ+ women” includes male athletes who self-identify as women. These “LGBTIQ+ women” have caused deserving female athletes to lose thousands of medals and trophies (3).

In response, dozens of Twitter users ridiculed Türk for his illogical statements (1):

  • Rebecca Marian: “If you are including men of any identity, or men with male only DSDs, in women’s sport you are not valuing women athletes…You’re part of the problem.”
  • John: “The patriarchy is a myth. Cut your promotion of this bullshit”
  • Dr Mari Lwyd: “This is just empty posturing if you’re advocating for any male to be included in the female category. Well? Are you?”

The incoherence of Türk’s “patriarchal barriers” claim is further revealed by sex-specific analyses of viewership numbers for women’s soccer events:

  1. 2023 Women’s World Cup of soccer: 1.6 billion men, 0.8 billion women
  2. US National Women’s Soccer League: 17.8 million male fans, 15.2 million female fans
  3. UK Women’s Soccer League: 12.2 million male viewers, 8.9 million female viewers

Similar break-downs are seen for the sex-specific viewership of women’s basketball and ice hockey competitions (4).

One could reasonably conclude that the main barrier to women’s sports is the scarcity of female viewers – which opens the intriguing question, “Is there really such a thing as the ‘patriarchy’?”

Multiple analyses reveal that around the world, men are lagging behind women in numerous areas, such as health, education, services for male victims of domestic violence, equal shared parenting, treatment by the criminal system, homelessness, negative portrayals by the media, and more (5). If “patriarchy” really exists, why did the all-powerful patriarchs allow these extensive male disparities to arise?

Persons who believe in the “patriarchy” often cite the “gender wage gap.” But the fallacy of the “gender wage gap” is exposed by these facts:

  • Numerous studies show when work experience, hours worked, risk of injury, and other factors are taken into account, the gender wage gap goes away. (6,7,8).
  • In the United States, Asian women now out-earn White men (9).
  • Patrice Onwuka of the Independent Women’s Forum has stated flatly, “There is no gender pay gap.” (10)

A belief in the “patriarchy” is a fevered figment of the Marxist imagination. Volker Türk needs to retract his bizarre statements and begin to address the many human rights violations against men.

The Domestic Abuse and Violence International Alliance – DAVIA — consists of 192 member organizations from 39 countries in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America, and North America. DAVIA seeks to ensure that domestic violence and abuse polices are science-based, family-affirming, and gender-inclusive. https://endtodv.org/davia/

Links:

  1. https://x.com/volker_turk/status/1945461861732040953?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1945461861732040953%7Ctwgr%5Ef9ac9d87843703dee5c9473a22684a9d288f6890%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.un.org%2Fen%2Fstory%2F2025%2F07%2F1165416
  2. https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/07/1165416
  3. https://www.shewon.org/
  4. https://x.com/i/grok?conversation=1950552445668471213
  5. menandboys.net
  6. https://fee.org/articles/harvard-study-gender-pay-gap-explained-entirely-by-work-choices-of-men-and-women/
  7. https://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/our-research/tough-trade-offs-how-time-and-career-choices-shape-the-gender-pay-gap
  8. https://www.payscale.com/featured-content/gender-pay-gap
  9. https://x.com/Mark_J_Perry/status/1464244752887463955?s=20
  10. https://townhall.com/columnists/patriceonwuka/2025/03/25/to-close-the-pay-gap-make-different-choices-n2654387