Men against feminism
Women empowerment is something that need to be viewed as a positive thing towards human development. Both men and women have raised issues that if women alone are empowered then men species will be endangered. What is the general perception from your country on women empowerment? What should be done to change that perception when it does not augur well?
I think some times is about what do we, as a community believe or understand about a concept or term, in this case I think if we want to involve men in the discussion we need to first discover or find out what do they think about the term feminism, in South America, the term is related most of the times to a degeneration of what feminism means. People thinks feminism is when women are radical and think they are better than men and want to take away what they have. So if in our context this is the situation the first step we need to do is introduce them to the real meaning f feminism and the importance of women empowerment for development. This way we can reach bigger things.
Is also important to notice that men need to involve in the discussion, but we also need to be careful about just focusing on men and then have discussion about women empowerment when most of the attendees are men, men deciding what is good for women or not. We need to look for equity, we need to look for team work between men and women.
Hello,
This is a very interesting topic. Indeed when we talk about women empowerment some men feel that it necessarily means we are taking something from them. We need to change that, empowering women goes with empowering men. We need both for a greater development.
Women empowerment has become a fancy term, a cause for which everyone wants to show support. However, the implementation is a little superficial I think - there are women directors, but they are all relatives and installed due to govt regulations, 33% of women are part of parliament who also happen to be the wives, sisters or daughter-in-laws of politicians etc. Men who are seen supporting women are many times accused of being hen-pecked or 'softy'. Most women based organisations have only women on their boards. On the bright side, media and NGO sector is trying to bring about attitude change e.g. MARD (Men against Rape and Discrimination), so the participation of men is slowly building up.
My views are from African man's perspective
Thanks everyone for your great contributions. All of us we have a role to play towards WEE. As a man I realized that there two categories of men in regards to women empowerment. There those who feel intimidated by woman's successes. This class of men they look upon when and see them as a less human being. For them women should never be empowered because they will step on their heads. It will take a great effort to change their mindset regardless how educated they are. The second class of men are those associate women with pride to them. For them they recognize women's contribution in society. When such men get married to women who are successful than them, it is sign of a big achievement not only to himself but children. They earn respect from their peers. In most cases these men are likely to succeed together with their family. This class of men they see women as strength rather than a threat. Fathers with empowered daughters are more happier than when they are not empowered. It is a pride to a father!
Thanks everyone for your great contributions. All of us we have a role to play towards WEE. As a man I realized that there two categories of men in regards to women empowerment. There those who feel intimidated by woman's successes. This class of men they look upon when and see them as a less human being. For them women should never be empowered because they will step on their heads. It will take a great effort to change their mindset regardless how educated they are. The second class of men are those associate women with pride to them. For them they recognize women's contribution in society. When such men get married to women who are successful than them, it is sign of a big achievement not only to himself but children. They earn respect from their peers. In most cases these men are likely to succeed together with their family. This class of men they see women as strength rather than a threat. Fathers with empowered daughters are more happier than when they are not empowered. It is a pride to a father!
In the U.S., men have not really been part of the discussions, and I think that's a problem. So far, women have been the ones leading the discussions and movement on equality and empowerment, and men have taken a backseat. I'm not sure why that is; perhaps they know they enjoy their positions of privilege and don't want to challenge the status quo. Most men who have spoken up to support gender equality and WEE are fathers of daughters, and can empathize with girls and women primarily from that angle. I recently read an article (I believe it was a Forbes article, so it was reputable) that stated that a man whose wife does not work outside the home has less compassion for women in the workplace. Unfortunately, most men whose wives stay at home are probably earning an above-average salary and are probably in positions of authority at their workplaces--positions where they can actually create change or make an impact on matters of WEE.
It takes a real man to stand up and declare, through his voice and actions, his solidarity with women--and not just those who are related to him.
The fear by men is what drives a lot of women to work twice as hard as men, Men should just stop fearing and embrace the unique potential women have that which is God given and maximize on that but women who are successful in life should stop looking down upon their men. It's an issue that has unique way of handling it depending on cultural values of a country.
I have read many reasons why the empowerment of women are important for the development of our societies and global economy but it is sad to have to state those facts over the main reason why women should be empowered, which is because they are also human beings that have the right to develop and have access to all the benefits that everyone has. Anyway, I will copy/paste here how men can benefit from empowering women in their regions:
" Women's empowerment is good for the economy and the environment
Women's empowerment benefits us all, because it's important for the economy. Countries that have opened up education to women and brought them into the work force do much better economically than countries that keep women suppressed, and many of those women work in environmentally-friendly occupations. It's no surprise that countries that suppress women and deprive them of an education are more economically backwards than others, because leaving one-half of your population uneducated means that you created have a drastically inferior work force.
And the higher women go in the echelons of the economy, the better it is for everyone. Christine LaGarde , the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, remarked, somewhat facetiously, that the financial collapse of a few years back might not have happened if Lehman Brothers had been Lehman Sisters. She observed:
There's plenty of evidence to show that diversity in management of major businesses leads to benefits for everyone. A major study recently compared the financial performance of businesses with large numbers of women on their boards to those with few women. The companies with women well-represented on their boards out-performed the others in every respect"
Like in most parts of the world, such topics have received mixed feelings in Uganda. Some men have been receptive of the ideas, whereas some have not agreed with them for some reasons. Some men and women have used cultural and religious arguments to pull down whoever tries to bring such arguments forth. In other instances, some people disagree simply because they have not been made to understand what this is all about. Therefore, we need to go back to the drawing board and devise ways through which we can advocate for gender equality, without it seeming like a force against nature.
We are the generation that attempt to end extreme poverty. I are also the generation that re-brands feminism.
#WEE.
Very true Bisi. Even here in Kenya feminist women are associated with negativity like a stubborn woman, who compares herself to men and so forth. This kind of trend was started by our ancestors.
Very true Bisi. Even here in Kenya feminist women are associated with negativity like a stubborn woman, who compares herself to men and so forth. This kind of trend was started by our ancestors.
Feminism is an expression that is usually antagonised by men. The African perception of feminism is 'a woman who is unrolly and cann't submit to any man' and a woman is called feminist by the Nigerian man as an insult. However, I pride myself in being called feminist and that is as a result of a mindset and a reasonable level of exposure. Issues like this will natural fade with increased education.
Well said Michel. Women are not taking over rather they want gender balance in all aspects of life
Thanks for the contribution, i find that usually people fear what they do not know or understand.Men need to be educated on the issue of Women Economic Empowerment, and gender equality. And the benefits of this. The perception is women want to take over the world. But the truth is we just want to be equally recognised, and contribute to the economy. One way of educating men on WEE, is presenting the statistics of your country or region on poverty, girlchild marriage etc this way they can understand that there is a crises and why there is this global movement towards WEE and gender equality.For example, in Sub-sahara Africa 40% of girls are married before they reach the age of 18. That is 2 in every 5 girl children, which is why we need to drive the agenda of WEE.There are alot of resources and information to use on this platform in the resources section.