BHUBANESWAR: Be it International Women’s or Children’s Day, the most powerful search engine of the world Google never fails to dedicate a doodle for such important days. However, Int’l Men’s Day seems to be one of the few exceptions to this rule. This narrowly summarises the dim observance of such an important day of the calendar.
The day was first observed November 19, 1999 in Trinidad and Tobago. The espoused purpose of this civil awareness day was to focus on the health of men and boys, enhance gender relations and equality, providing avenues for gender balance and lime lighting positive role models. This year, the theme of the day is ‘positive male role models’. It’s quite puzzling and disconcerting to notice such a subdued observance of this important day.
No events were organised in the city to observe this day. Byomkesh Tripathy, a member of Purush Commission, said, “A minimum budget of Rs 18,000 is required to organize such an event in the city. We found absolutely no sponsors for an event based on International Men’s day. Even the state government did not offer any help whatsoever. The society must understand that men too suffer from domestic abuse and depression.”
Manoj Nayak, another member of the commission, said, “Men are being victimised in the ongoing #metoo campaign. At least, some men think like that. We must understand that sometime even women can be the villain in a men’s life.
After all, statistical data suggests that men die younger and live in poorer health conditions than women. Men are much more likely to go to prison and they also commit more suicides than their female peers. Vesna Pericevic Jacob, a fitness expert and author, said, “Unfortunately, we still live in the world when women need to have their day as a reminder of a struggle for equality. Obviously, whoever can say the above, means they are not really familiar with the history, or just simply are in denial. Women across the world are still fighting for equality in all aspects of life, equal pays for equal jobs, sexual harassment and domestic violence to name a few.”
“Once we have all the rights men have and there is a full equality regardless of gender and sexual orientation, then we can observe both holidays equally,” she added. Such an analysis is highly critical at best and misplaced at worst. It has to be realised that such a day calls for the well being of men and in no way does it espouse any form of patriarchy. Celebrating a day dedicated to men can in no way curtail any feminist movement. In fact, both the days should be celebrated with equal gusto to usher in an era of gender equality.
Aparna Maroo Jain, Co-founder, My Second Act, said, “Considering that men and women comprise the world’s population almost equally, men’s day too should be celebrated with equal gusto. The noises around the Women’s day celebration all seem to be about reiterating woman empowerment and self belief. Men’s day should be about men extending support to men and women, and getting rid of gender biases. When these qualities are celebrated, it will ensure that both these celebrations are contributing to the well being of both the sexes.”