As I came out of the airport during a recent travel, I saw this huge board: “Workshop on Gender Responsive Governance for Elected Women Representatives.” My surprise led to disappointment and then to annoyance. So, what’s new, I wondered? As soon as people hear the word, “Gender” they see only women, conjuring images of women activists, women academicians, women writers, women experts, and women participants. And Women everything.
And why not, I contemplated. After all, most of the gender experts and specialists that I have come across in India and also elsewhere have been mostly women. In newsrooms and media houses, most of the stories related to women (or rather only women) are dubbed as ‘gender’ stories’ and are reserved predominantly for women journalists only. Assigning gender stories to female reporters is common too. When male reporters are assigned stories related to gender, they throw their hands bewilderingly in the air and ask, ‘but I am a guy!’ You can also bet that all panellists on a panel discussing a gender-related topic will be sure to be women.
What’s more, in most colleges and universities, the school or department of gender studies is headed by female professors. And the students are typically female as well. Also think about the attendees of events, orientations, and training related to gender equality. In all probability, you will find that most of the attendees are females. I remember attending a workshop on gender sensitisation for state-level officials of the Health Department where 90% of the participants were females. Furthermore, the 10% male participants were not just disinterested but seemed to be even embarrassed being in a room full of women discussing ‘women’s issues!”
Is knowing and understanding gender, gender inequality, and gender sensitivity only for women? Even today, most people still see gender issues as women’s issues, even though the strict definition of gender encompasses male, female and other gender identities. When we talk of gender equality, gender equity and gender sensitivity, it’s about people of all genders having equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities. And everyone is affected by gender inequality, women, men children families and gender-diverse people.
However, we often tend to think of just women when we think of gender. In the larger goal of achieving gender equality too, the focus has often been on women. It’s mostly about removing barriers for inclusion of women, empowering women, and ensuring women’s access to education, health, employment and other opportunities. However, gender is a social construct and includes norms, behaviours and practices associated with men, women, and other gender as well as relationships with each other. For example, empowering women without considering the burden placed on women, and the relationship between men and women outside the workplace can put women at greater risk.
Agree, women have been historically the disadvantaged and oppressed gender who have continued to bear the brunt of gender inequality. But why do we forget that these inequalities are the result of patriarchy and the unequal power dynamics between men and women? So, notwithstanding our investment in women, men also need to be engaged as willing participants in the realignment of power between the genders.
Besides, men often get impacted by gender norms which further accentuates the gender divide. So gender can never be about women alone, but also include men and also others across the gender spectrum. And gender equality and equity cannot happen without men and gender sensitivity is required for all genders. Engaging men and boys is critical to improving gender equity and working toward equality.
Shifting mindsets is one of the first steps towards gender sensitivity that requires addressing the barriers that affect everyone across the gender spectrum. Changing mindsets, encouraging behaviour change and engaging men and boys as allies are significant to achieving gender equality and empowering women, girls, men, boys and all other people across the gender spectrum.
Addressing toxic masculinity norms will not be possible without the involvement of men and boys for masculinity norms affects both men and women. As long as boys and men confirm to such gender norms, not heeding to its adverse impact on girls and women, the inequality between the genders will continue to remain the same. Social norms compel men not to discard the expectations of masculinity for fear of being shunned by their peers and societal pressure. Understanding the drivers behind the motivations and behaviours of boys and men is important to help identify and address unspoken societal barriers to gender equity.
So, increasing awareness on gender norms and the inherent discrimination will help in empowering boys and men to feel confident in shifting their own behaviours which is crucial to reaching greater equality. There is strong evidence illustrating that engaging boys and men improve the balance of domestic chores and caregiving responsibilities between men and women, addresses violence against women and girls, and improves women’s and family’s physical and mental health, thus helping towards achieving greater gender equity and a better quality of life.
Some of the norms and stereotypes men encounter have a negative impact on women and also on other men. Having men as advocates and champions of gender equality can definitely help in discarding such harmful social norms and helping people from all genders. It’s not just in families and communities, other areas where men can actively challenge traditional gender norms and expectations are in the workplace. For women in the workforce, especially those early in their careers, having male mentors and advocates can significantly affect their career growth and success.
So, when we are talking of gender equality, it is important to actively engage with men and other genders at all levels, to support and empower them to become advocates and allies to reduce disparities across genders.
Gender conversations should not be solely focused on women and girls. We need to engage men and boys early on in gender conversations so that they also understand and participate to promote gender equality. Besides, it’s also important to actively encourage more and more boys and young men to champion gender equality and also be visible and vocal so that gender is not seen as the domain of women only.
Gender equality is not only a women’s issue – it’s everyone’s issue. We also need to debunk the myth that women and girls alone are harmed by gender inequality gender inequality affects everyone, including men and other genders. The strict yet harmful gender norms affect both boys and girls with the stereotypes causing several serious consequences. But the recognition that gender inequality harms not just women but all genders is critical which needs a major shift in our attitude and approach.
