A Tory MP has demanded a House of Commons debate on International Men's Day – "in the spirit of gender equality".

Philip Davies said it wasn't right that MPs held a debate on International Women's Day every year and there was no equivalent for men. He said the situation was "acute" because women's issues were also debated every month during women and equalities question time.

International Men's Day will this year be held on 19 November. Davies told BuzzFeed News it was an opportunity to talk about issues such as men's shorter life expectancy, the high male suicide rate, and domestic violence against men.

But his plea for a Commons debate was rejected on Tuesday by the backbench business committee, a group of MPs that can allocate time for debates.

Labour MP Jess Phillips, the only female member of the committee, told Davies: "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."