Generally, the call for gender equality is made by women, for women. The crux of the feminist struggle is raising women’s status to that of men’s, demanding the same rights and privileges that men enjoy so that women’s plight can be improved. But here is the corollary: gender equality will not improve women’s condition alone; it will do much-needed good to men as well. Following is how:
- Bread-winning: Not a men-only domain
An increasing number of young males are faced with the pressure of bread-winning and getting employed as soon as possible. A surge in suicide ratio in professional colleges is mostly tilted towards men which proves that they are more vulnerable to the highly competitive race of professional excellence. Gender equality can rescue young men from this pressure by fundamentally altering the notion that it is solely a man’s responsibility to earn. Sharing the financial pressure between sexes can shift the gendered expectations, allowing men to excel in their professions without any detrimental effects.
- Better conditioning of boys via shared parenting
Parenting and child-rearing are usually associated with mothers in most cultures. However, that only partially serves the purpose as Psychoanalytical Analysis by Freud suggests: Girls tend to become closer to their mothers when the Oedipus Complex is resolved, while boys look up to their fathers but because fathers are not responsible for child-rearing per se, boys only get to learn from observation. They don’t have in-depth discussions with their dads in most cases; leaving their emotional, moral and psychological development as a half-baked pie. This lacking can be overcome by equally sharing parenting duties between mothers and fathers, as feminists suggest. Thus, gender equality plays a crucial role in the moral and psychological development of men, addressing many structural gendered differences.
- Checking a male child’s molestation
In most parts of the Third World, boys as young as six are made to work outside their homes. This practice is rooted in social expectations associated with the male child as the breadwinner. The pressure to be a ‘man’ plays out itself in the form of molestation that these young boys have to encounter while at work. The purpose of the oft-viewed sidekicks that accompany truck drivers in Pakistan and Afghanistan is well-known. Moreover, a recent report in a national daily revealed that young boys earn bread in exchange for sexual favors extended to workers in coal mines in Balochistan. Boys need to be safeguarded as much as girls so that their innocence and physio-psychological well-being is not compromised. Eliminating gender disparity will ensure that.
- Meeting men’s emotional needs
Feminists challenge the commonly-accepted traits of men such as they cannot cry; be expressive or vulnerable. Years and years of conditioning of men along these predefined characteristics have made them incapable of listening to their emotional side. Resultantly, a void is created, marrying their personal lives. In an attempt to uphold their masculinity, most men ignore or even ridicule the emotional needs of their partners, leading to failed relationships. Gender equality demands that men need to be as expressive, vulnerable and open to dard as women, so that they may enjoy and embrace the emotional side of human nature.
The truth is that patriarchy stigmatized men’s problems, dusting them under the carpet, and while it afforded men an upper-hand in social strata; it created several problems for them as well. The above are just a few instances showing that gender equality is as important for men’s progress as for women. Hence, even if only to serve their self-interest, men need to join hands with women to promote gender equality so that a better tomorrow can be realized.
The writer is an architect and a blogger.