Division between men and women is stirred up by “militant feminists” and overzealous “politically correct males”, Conservative MP Philip Davies has said in a parliamentary debate to mark International Men’s Day.

The MP for Shipley said he had spent his political career campaigning against “the blight of political correctness, which is doing so much damage to our country”, and that its “most pernicious effects” were felt on the area of gender equality.

Speaking in a debate which focused on the issue of male suicide, Davies described the introduction of the select committee for women and equalities after May’s general election as “the most depressing thing to happen”.

“After everything else, in 2015 we have a separate committee to deal with women’s issues on top of the women’s minister, women’s question time and the many strategies in the country which only deal with women,” he said.

“The problem is virtually everything we do in this House and debate in this House seems to start with the premise that everything is biased against women and something must be done about it – never an appreciation that men’s issues can be just as important and that men can be just as badly treated in certain areas as women.”

Davies made reference to figures which show that the number of female suicide victims has reduced from 10.9 per 100,000 people in 1982 to 5.1 per 100,000 in 2013, but that male suicide rates have barely fallen, with 20.6 per 100,000 in 1982 compared with 19 per 100,000 in 2013.

The MP also condemned the higher likelihood that courts would give custody of children to a mother over a father. He said: “Many reasonable mothers allow fathers as much access to the children as possible ... [but] some women do use their children as a stick to beat the father with, either because they’re bitter about the failed relationship, for financial reasons or because they’ve moved on and it’s easier for them if their new partner takes on the role of father to their children.”

He added: “Short of a child-swapping disaster in hospital, women know for sure that their babies are theirs, but fathers can never know 100% for sure that this is the case, without formally having a DNA test. Many are sure because of their trust in their partner, but there are also plenty who will be unsure because of their partner’s behaviour or because they have been deliberately tricked.”

Former Conservative women and equalities minister Maria Miller – who currently chairs the women and equalities select committee – commended Davies for never failing to challenge the status quo, but said that equality was not a competition between men and women. She said: “Women face discrimination on a daily basis, that’s not a myth. My honourable friend does not do his case much good at all when he tries to belittle that.”

Davies provoked criticism when he first suggested that the House of Commons should hold a debate for International Men’s Day, telling BuzzFeed News: “We have a debate every year in parliament to coincide with International Women’s Day, and in the spirit of gender equality I couldn’t see any reason why the same courtesy couldn’t be afforded for International Men’s Day.”

The MP’s suggestion provoked a particularly sharp reaction from the member of parliament for Birmingham Yardley, Jess Phillips, who said every day felt like International Men’s Day in the House of Commons. “When I’ve got parity, when women in these buildings have parity, you can have your debate. And that will take an awfully long time,” she said.

