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Men's Day Out
IF MARCH 8 is important, why can't November 19 be the significant other?
If the world can celebrate International Women's Day (IWD) in March with so much fanfare, why shouldn't men have a day to highlight their issues?
To be sure, there's indeed an International Men's Day already. Trinidad and Tobago celebrate the day on November 19 while countries like Brazil, Ukraine and Malta observe it on different dates. There seems to be some flickering of the fight for men's rights in the UK. The movement for an International Men's Day apparently dates back to 1999, almost a decade after the first Women's Day was celebrated in the US to fight for better pay and voting rights. But India has suddenly turned the spotlight on the issue. Some Indian organisations fighting harassment of men by women have apparently demanded that November 19 — ironically the birth anniversary of Indira Gandhi, the only woman Prime Minister India had so far — be henceforth known as Men's Day. Several blogs have got into the act to sway public opinion.
But, what do these men want? As far as Indian men are concerned, their main grouse is the recently-introduced legislation to stamp out domestic violence and sexual harassment. The law is allegedly loaded in favour of women. Men accuse women of misusing the provisions of the law to harass men.
Those who espouse the idea of Men's Day are also against so-called 'misrepresentation of masculinity'. Probably men want to be credited with some feminine traits like sensitivity and affection too. We should also perhaps acknowledge the fact that like women, men have the right to look good and shouldn't dismiss their attempts to appear fair and lovely and acquire other personality traits women are credited with.
Anyway, violence against women is rampant and on the rise. So hunks fighting for Men's Day should first come up with hard facts to prove that odds are stacked against them. As long as they fail to do so, their charter of demands is meaningless. They would do well to remember that these days even feminism is a pejorative term in some quarters.
The prime objective of IWD is to mark the social, economic and political achievements of women whose emancipation is a recent phenomenon. Men have been in the driver's seat since time immemorial. Now if they want to be made to feel special for a day, there is no harm in indulging them for 24 hours. Just like giving lollies to stop you know whom from whining.
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