In a long-awaited decision, President Bush finally named tough-talking John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. And not a day too soon, as the U.N. General Assembly is set to reconvene in September.

The problems at the United Nations are legion: the Oil-for-Food scandal, the sexual escapades of the U.N. peacekeepers, the laughingstock that the Human Rights Commission has become, the U.N.’s utter failure to stem the AIDS epidemic, and many others.

But there’s another scandal that people are trying to keep under wraps -- the fact that dozens of agencies and offices sprinkled throughout the vast U.N bureaucracy have become base camps for ideological feminism.

Feminists view every human issue through the lens of gender and power. So whatever the problem -- poverty, disease, or a shortage of parking spaces – the standard refrain of the Sisterhood is “Down with the patriarchy!”

At the U.N., benign male-bashing has become distant memory. What now passes as normal feminist discourse at the United Nations ranges from outright gender prejudice to high-octane bigotry that resembles an Andrea Dworkin rant.

The bias begins at the top. At a 2003 International Women’s Day observance, Louise Frechette issued this categorical imperative: “all our work for development

-- from agriculture to health....must focus on the needs and priorities of women.” But not men or children?

Ms. Frechette, by the way, is Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and reports directly to Kofi Annan.

Carol Bellamy, former UNICEF director, once made a similar plea for Africa: “Women are the lifeline of these southern African communities. They put the food on the table, and they're the ones that keep families going during such crises.” As a consequence, according to the UNICEF press release, “Women and children must be at the center of response to Southern Africa's humanitarian crisis.”

Last December the UNAIDS published its report, Women and AIDS. It is not possible to describe the gender vilification that oozes from this document, but suffice it say that it reads like a master’s thesis from a Women’s Studies program.

The U.N. refugee program issued the following plea on its website: “The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees...One million women and children...homeless, hungry, helpless...Their only help is you.”

Does that mean men are never homeless, hungry, and helpless? Or that their plight simply deserves less sympathy?

When it comes to domestic violence, the U.N. subjects men to the most pernicious stereotypes. It has been shown that women are fully the equal of men when it comes to partner aggression. But the WHO report Violence and Health dismisses that fact with this disingenuous remark: “Where violence by women occurs, it is more likely to be in the form of self-defense.”

More disturbing is the casual way that the U.N. regards the lives of men.

In years past, the rallying cry for the World Health Organization was “Health for All.” But now, the WHO’s goals have become somewhat more modest: “Make Every Mother and Child Count.”

Carey Roberts