PRESS RELEASE

INTERNATIONAL MEN’S DAY – 2010

All India Men’s Welfare Association (AIMWA)

International Men’s Day (IMD) is celebrated on 19th November the world over.

This year, on the occasion of IMD, AIMWA is felicitating three

positive male role models namely, Dr. Viswanath Gogte, Sri. A.V.

Gurunadh and Sri. Gangadhara Sastry for their extraordinary

contributions to academic, civic and spiritual education,

respectively.

Why celebrate Men’s Day?

In the recent years, it has become common practice to neglect,

ill-treat and demean men in the society. Male bashing (both physical

and verbal) and portrayal of men as villains, idiots and inferior

creatures is seen as an innocuous way of increasing profits of media

houses and other businesses. Discrimination of men under law and

violation of their human rights have become synonymous with empowering

and protecting women.

Undermining the positive contributions of majority of men and

exaggerating the misdeeds of a few has serious impact on the psyche of

men and the self-image of young men and boys. Discrimination against

men in areas of social services, social attitudes, social expectations

and law is very demoralizing to the common men who lead decent, honest

lives.

International men’s day is about celebrating and honoring men in our

lives for all the contributions, services and sacrifices they make for

the well-being of the family and society. It is an opportunity to

revive respect towards men and improve gender relations. It is an

occasion to promote positive male role models, to reinforce the

self-esteem and pride of young men and boys about being male. It is a

day to remind everyone of the fact that men are human too and that

they desire and deserve love, care and respect just as much as women

do.

In an attempt to shed light on the various issues affecting men, All

India Men’s Welfare Association (AIMWA) is organizing a conference

where experts in various fields will share their observations and

recommendations.

* Physical Health of men – Dr. Sudhir, BHMS, Kakinada

The National Family Health Survey does not consider men’s health

important – enormous focus on women and children, and the mention of

men only in relation to how they should contribute to the health and

welfare of women and children, clearly indicates the apathy of the

Government towards men’s health. No funds are allocated to conduct

research on or develop remedies for diseases specific to men such as

prostate or testicular cancers. Since men define their lives largely

by their professions and protecting and providing for their families,

they tend to ignore illnesses, lead less healthy lifestyles than

women, miss getting medical attention in time, and as other stresses

in life increase, the diseases catch up with them. Men are more likely

to die from heart disease, prostate cancer, stroke, infectious

diseases, accidents and suicide. Males have a higher overall mortality

rate than females at all ages (roughly 1.6 times greater). It is

necessary to understand the genetic, environmental or age related

illnesses which can affect men, and provide them with insurance to get

the right kind of medical attention at the appropriate time.

* Men as protectors – Sri. A.B. Pratap Reddy, A.P. Police

Department, Hyderabad

Men as individuals and as a group are expected to protect not just

their own respective families, but also, all women and children in the

society. Right from the age of 7, a boy is trained to be an “unpaid

bodyguard” to girls and women. Accordingly, anytime a girl or woman is

in distress, one always sees men rushing to her rescue. The fire

department, police, armed forces and all other security forces are

filled with men. Even in forces where women are recruited, combat and

other risky operations are considered the exclusive job of men. The

country pays tributes once a year to all the fallen heroes who

sacrificed their lives for the country. We also need to remember that

the so-called protector too needs certain kinds of protection and

support in order to perform his job efficiently on a daily basis.

Government should pay close attention to improving working conditions,

salaries, housing and professional development opportunities for men

in uniform.

* Men as providers – Sri. Manoj David, President, National

Litigant Bench, Chennai

Men and boys are always expected to be and conditioned to become

protectors and providers. Even though more women are entering the job

market and defying their traditional roles within the family and the

society, resulting in reduced employment opportunities for men, the

society refuses to free men of their traditional duties of protecting

and providing for women, children and the aged. Men who cannot provide

for the family are considered incapable, unmanly and unfit for

marriage and having children. So, men often undertake some of the most

risky and challenging jobs in the society and put their lives at stake

just to be a provider. Financial hardships drive thousands of

farmers, artisans and providers of crucial services to commit suicide.

Treating men as ATMs and expendable commodities is nothing but abuse

of their human rights, which must be opposed by individuals, society

and Government.

* Emotional Health of men – Dr. Praveen Chinta, MBBS, DPM, MRCP, Hyderabad

Boys are discouraged from expressing their pain and feelings from the

age of 7-8 yrs. This leads to fear of self-expression and even

numbness to abuse for the rest of their lives. Men find emotional

confrontations extremely painful when they grow up as they are no

longer good at articulating their emotions. A lot of men take refuge

in addictions like smoking or drinking to combat stress. Most men

enduring emotional turmoil in marriage contemplate suicide and a

substantial percentage of them (around 56,000 a year) actually commit

suicide. Twice as many married men, compared to married women, commit

suicide every year. Scientific research is necessary to understand the

emotional health issues of men, especially the Indian male. There is a

need for psychiatrists and psychologists to specifically focus on

issues pertaining to men.

* Men in old age – Smt. Kamakshi, Secy. Senior Citizens Forum, Hyderabad

While men in the “productive” age bracket are subject to the pressures

of professional competition, family issues and financial problems, one

expects that they would be relatively stress-free during their

post-retirement years. However, due to the breakdown of the joint

family system, and the advent of nuclear family and individualistic

culture, more and more aged men are suffering from anxiety,

loneliness, financial hardships and despair. Many aged men also

suffer neglect and abuse in their homes, but they appear to be better

adjusted than women in similar situations, because men in general are

not expressive about their emotions. Overemphasis on professional and

family responsibilities at the expense of their own health, and the

ensuing stress could be the reasons why life expectancy of men is much

lesser than that of women. As the physical and emotional health of

aged men depends, to a large extent, on their lifestyles during their

younger years, men need to maintain a healthy lifestyle so that they

are more resilient and capable of coping with the challenges posed by

age and age-related diseases and disabilities.

* Men and anti-male laws – Smt. Rama Subhadra, Mahila Satta Legal

Cell, Hyderabad

Many laws have been made in the last 60 years in the name of

protecting women within and outside the home. These so-called

pro-women laws such as IPC Section 498A, Domestic Violence Act,

adultery laws, laws against rape and sexual harassment and family laws

(divorce, maintenance and child custody) aggravate problems rather

than mitigate them. These discriminatory laws are anti-male and

anti-family, and serve as weapons that promote family destruction and

large scale human rights abuses against men, women and children. They

are tools of blackmail and extortion in the hands of unscrupulous

women, law enforcement personnel, lawyers and judiciary. There is an

urgent need to eliminate discrimination against men under law, make

all civil and criminal laws equally applicable to men and women, and

also to ensure that strict penalties are imposed on those who misuse

the laws.

* Respecting male sexuality – Smt. Uma Challa, President, All

India Men’s Welfare Association, Hyderabad

Sexual arousal is easily discernible in men, whereas it is not obvious

in women. As a result, men constantly face the allegation of being

obsessed with sex. It is also believed that men always indulge in sex

voluntarily, whereas women are thought to take part in sex either to

fulfill the sexual or emotional needs of men or because they are

forced to do so by men against their will. Male sexuality is often

attacked to break a man down emotionally. Sexual exploitation and rape

of men/boys by women is not acknowledged as an offense, and in fact it

is considered as a non-existent problem. Today, male sexuality is

ridiculed, insulted, misunderstood, undermined, disregarded,

criminalized and everything but respected. Proper awareness on male

sexuality is very important for both men and women. Provisions and

laws for protection against sexual assault and abuse are as necessary

for men as they are for women.