Sue Gyford: Are women on top in battle of the sexes?

For decades, women have worked to close the "equality gap", fighting for equal access to education and the workplace, fair pay, and a host of other rights.

Now a new 700-page report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) examines the progress that Britain has made towards a more equitable society.

How Fair is Britain considers equality across genders, age, ethnicity and geography. Its findings are complex, but some commentators have seen it as evidence that men are fast becoming the disadvantaged sex.

There is no denying that there are some areas for concern. The report shows that boys lag behind throughout their education. On the health front, men are more likely to be obese, less likely to visit their GP or to eat fruit and veg. Women live longer than men, almost all those killed at work are men, and men are three times as likely as women to commit suicide. Men are also more likely to be victims of crime than women, more likely to be murdered or assaulted.

All in all, it could make depressing reading for the modern man. But is it really true to say they are now facing more disadvantages than women?

There is no doubt that the effects of women's increasing liberation have left men facing new challenges. As more women enter the workforce, men are expected to keep up their career aspirations while also developing their skills on the home front.

Life coach Mark Lister, who is based at Edinburgh Coaching Centre in Henderson Row, says that even a small change towards equality inevitably has a big impact on men: "I guess men don't have role models for many of these new roles," he says.

"We can't look to our fathers to learn about being a house husband. It's not very long ago that the norm was that fathers were out to work and mothers were looking after the kids.

"The ones that are stepping into that role now even if it's not to a great degree are doing it from scratch."

The report highlights some concerns over men's health - they are, for example, less likely to visit their GP than women, and the national director of Men's Health Forum Scotland, Eva Asante, is unsurprised: "We tend to find that most people who work in GPs surgeries are women so the design, the colours, everything, we consult women more than men. The environment is more inviting for women. I did research on this and I found that young men were not registering with their GP at all and they said they found that GPs are awkward, the don't feel welcome."

However, the EHRC report is clear that while men and women's health situations are different, they are not necessarily inequitable. It says: "While there are obvious differences in the health needs of men and women, the evidence does not suggest a trend of either gender experiencing worse health than the other.

"Both genders may find their health needs are not met: men are less likely to use their GP; women have specific concerns about maternity services. Both genders have a mixed record when it comes to looking after health. Men are more likely to take exercise but less likely to eat the recommended amounts of fruit and vegetables, and women vice-versa".

One area in which it seems clear that men - and boys - are falling behind is education. The report says: "Girls outperform boys routinely at age 5, at age 16 and at degree level throughout Britain."

Since 2003, women have made up 59 per cent of the undergraduate population. However, it's not purely a case of women storming ahead. Segregation remains in the subjects chosen for university study, with women under-represented in science, technology, engineering and maths.

The segregation continues into the workplace, with women occupying 77 per cent of administration and secretarial posts, but only 6 per cent of those in engineering.

In terms of seniority, men are gradually losing their stranglehold on the top positions, but they are still ahead - one in three managerial jobs in Britain are now held by women.

Perhaps most significantly, the report finds that the gender pay gap stands at 16.4 per cent - higher than the estimate of the Government's Office for National Statistics, which put it at 12.2 per cent.

Commenting on the report as a whole, EHRC chairman Trevor Phillips said: "This review holds up the mirror to fairness in Britain. It is the most complete picture ever compiled. It shows that we have moved light years in our attitudes to all kinds of human difference, and in our desire to be a truly fair society, but our achievements haven't yet caught up with our aspirations."

Things may have changed for men, then, but they should not feel sorry for themselves - according to Mark Lister, it is simply a matter of adapting.

"I think if men are becoming disadvantaged, it's disadvantage by default and by inertia," he says.

"You can have women's networking groups and businesswomen's groups, but you can't really have men's ones. It's not because it would be sexist, it's just that we haven't worked it out - what would it be, what do we want out of that? That's a lot of confusion."

GIRLS VERSUS BOYS

Girls outperform boys in education from age five to degree level

Men earn on average 16.4 per cent more than women

Men are more likely to be assaulted or murdered than women

Only one in three management positions are filled by women

Women live on average four years longer than men