Men in Feminism

For women, success is in an entirely different game all together. Our goals are huge, so are our responsibilities. There is work and there is play, health, friendship, romance and family. The question is how do you call the shots and never lose sight on what it means to be called a woman. 

Why are we obsessed with women rights that we forget about the men, men’s role in feminism? The most asked question is what do men have to do in gender equality? Isn’t gender equality about women? Privilege is invisible to those who have it. Justice is the right to every individual regardless of their gender. There are so many girls and women that have been denied chances in their lives. One out of three women faces violence from their partner and that hasn’t changed much. Only 22% women parliamentarians globally are women. And there still exist the gender pay gap between men and women. Men have always been seen as a problem, but they could possibly be a solution. Making gender visible to men, is the first step to engaging men to support gender equality. We need to persuade men that this is good for them too, because the men are not going to change unless they also see that they benefit. Gender equality not only makes the women suffer but also the men. They are often not in touch with the emotions, they are often not in touch with their children. There is a lot of social and financial pressure on the men, that they have to be strong, and protect the family. Be the bread winner. If roles are shared, it becomes less burdensome and their we see partners equally sharing duties and frankly that is fair, the ethical imperative. But this again doesn’t go to well with other men, who talk about gender equality on one hand and then start mansplaining about oppression. Some men see supporting gender equality something akin to cavalry. Without consulting men’s sense of entitlement, we will never understand why men resist gender equality?

 The younger generation, the youth are much happier to call men feminists as well as women feminist.  That’s a great change for a start .  Younger men today expect to be able to balance work and family. They want to be a dual career, dual carer couples. They want to be able to balance work and family with their partners. They want to be involved fathers. It turns out that more egalitarian the relationships, the happier both partners are. Gender equality is not a zero-sum game, but a win-win.  

Instead of pitching in and getting involved, “share”; because what is yours is equally theirs too.