Jenny Willott has co-written an article at the Huffington Post with Michael Kimmel, a New York Professor of gender equality for the Huffington post. They argue that everybody benefits from a more equal society. They talk about how the evens they attend on gender equality are predominantly female and call on men to do what they can to campaign for equality:
Real equality will only come about with the active involvement of both men and women. The time has come for men to enter this debate, not as outsiders but as true agents for change.
Men’s role in achieving gender equality in the home, the local community and the workplace is increasingly recognised both in research and practice. We should be at the forefront of promoting this.
There are huge benefits to men and to their children from greater gender equality: more quality time with family, children performing better at school and reduced pressure on men and boys who don’t conform to traditional masculine ideals.
We know that engaging men on gender equality is not easy, there are many barriers, but we cannot give up. There is huge pressure on boys and men to conform to the norms that constrain them as much as they do women. All children deserve the chance to live life to the full, follow their own path and choose how best to use their talents and pursue their interests.
So what can men do? We know that men want to take parental leave and be more involved with their children – they must feel that they can. Men need to feel comfortable playing a more equal role at home and tackling misogyny among their peers. Male managers who give women the opportunity to reach their full potential at work will ensure companies have a bigger talent pool from which to draw.
You can read the whole article here and listen to Jenny talk about the issue here.
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7 Comments
I was promoting this article earlier in the week. One of the things I have been most passionate about is stopping the constant drip of hate against men coming from left wing sources over the past few years. It made me almost hate the left and want nothing to do with them, so it was entirely counterproductive for them too.
However this article promotes a positive approach to gender equality that actually opens my ears and makes me want to engage. I don’t think gender roles can be eliminated entirely, but I’m certainly more interested in articles with this sort of tone and with the aims of helping men and women. A lot of left wing men will feel the same too.
A nice change to hear a positive vision of equality.
I was happy to see the headline but sadly the article seems to target men solely in terms of “how can we get them onboard” rather than “maybe men are sometimes victims of inequality too”.
Yes, men need to feel they can take more parental leave. But is it just men who make other men feel they can’t or shouldn’t? In my experience, women are some of the most disparaging when it comes to male parental abilities. And yes, gender equality events are usually female-dominated. Is that because men are all misogynist pigs who don’t want to get involved or stand up for equal rights? No, it’s because often when men get involved in such events women complain about it and make them feel they have no place talking about “women’s issues”.
We’ve made tremendous progress towards equality and there’s no denying that there are plenty of men who still think and act in misogynist ways. But let’s not pretend that women are never misandrist. One of the greatest barriers to more male involvement in the equalities arena is the fact that women tend to get territorial about parenthood and equality issues.
Well said Catherine. I couldn’t agree more!
PHMT shocker.
All forms of discrimination are bad for society as a whole, because they put less competent people from the favoured group in key jobs ahead of more competent people from the unfavoured group. So business, society, academia (or whatever else you care to think of) run less well than they could.
One of the areas of life – perhaps trivial? – where men are discriminated against, is dress. Society at large, and therefore employers, audiences etc, are much more keen on men maintaining often unofficial dress codes (suit and tie, or suit and no tie) in certain situations, less tolerance of bright colours etc) than they are women, who can wear a wide variety of styles, clothes and colours. Isn’t it about time we as liberals encouraged a more liberal – and less discriminatory – approach to “dress codes”. Should we have dress codes in the first place?