International Men's Day (IMD)

I was going through my son's secondary school calendar to check out dates for school holidays and there I found, plotted in the calendar, International Men's Day (IMD) for November 19th. I was so thrilled to see this noted.

I mentioned this to my partner and he didn't even know such a thing existed. Now he certainly knows about International Women's Day, and each year come the myriad of comments and questions about when is it International Men's Day and what is done to celebrate men?

It got me thinking about it and I wanted to find out a bit more. I wanted to look at the pillars and desired outcomes of IMD and how they relate to IWD or International Women's Day, which is celebrated on March 8th each year.

Our Focus on Men's Support

You see, at Advancia, while our training is largely focused on supporting women in aspiring and current leadership positions, we are deeply focused on the role that men play in this journey. We do not look at men as adversaries, but rather as allies and partners.

The road to equality, gender inclusion, diversity and balance is a path that we need to walk together, but in order to do that, there needs to be more awareness, more understanding, more patience and more empathy.

It's not a zero sum game.

It's not about women winning at the expense of men.

Gender parity, balance, inclusion and equality mean a better society for us all. 

About International Men's Day

But let's step back into IMD for a moment. Here are a few things that I found interesting and wanted to share with you. 

• It's 19th November every year. Mark your diaries now and plan ahead for your celebrations.
• It's a global awareness day for the issues that men face. According to Wikipedia, these include: parental alienation, abuse, homelessness, suicide, and violence.
• It is not recognised by the United Nations.
• It aims to celebrate boys' and men's lives, achievements and contributions, in particular for their contributions to nation, union, society, community, family, marriage, and childcare. (Wikipedia)
• IMD started in 1992 after being developed in 1991.
• Malta has the longest running celebration of International Men's Day.
• Jerome Teelucksingh from Trinidad and Tobago, was responsible for reviving IMD and chose 19th November as the celebration date, in honour of his father's birthday.
• Jerome said, "They are striving for gender equality and patiently attempt to remove the negative images and the stigma associated with men in our society"

Striving for Gender Equality

I'd lay odds that if you read that title, out of context, you'd immediately think it was a statement from women about women. But in this instance it's a man shining a light on the need for gender equality, from the male perspective.

Jerome said that men were and are attempting to remove the negative stereotypes and stigmas associated with men. And so, November 19th is a day to celebrate men and their contributions.

Something that struck me, as a Mum, was that it's a celebration of men and BOYS. What future do we want for our sons, our nephews, our relatives?

I know I want a better one, one that is more enlightened and progressive. I don't want my son discriminated against for being male. I want him to be supported by his female friends and colleagues as he goes through life. I want him to understand, respect and support women as equals. I want him to have positive male role models to aspire to, rather than negative stereotypes.

 Just as International Women's Day is there to celebrate women, my own feeling is that the part about raising awareness is often lost in the conversation. International Women’s Day shines a light on issues such as trafficking, sexual and other types of exploitation, child and forced marriage and FGM.  International Men’s Day focuses on suicide, violence, abuse and alienation.

 If I were to bring the essence of both International Men's Day and International Women's Day down to two words, they would be:

Celebration & Awareness

 On both days, we are celebrating the many successes, achievements and contributions of men and women.

And importantly, we are raising awareness of the plight of men and boys, women and girls on a global scale for the hugely challenging issues that both genders face.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Men's_Day

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If you’d like to know more about our training, masterclasses and speaking around the topics of male allyship for your organisation, please email [email protected] for further details.