Glenda Simms
TEN YEARS ago thousands of the world's most influential women representing both the official government levels and the non-governmental women's organisations brought a fantastic energy level to the city of Beijing in China.
Many powerful men were also there.
Both genders were afforded enough space to articulate their points of view and to contribute to the ongoing search for equity, justice and peace within a global framework of equality between women and men.
At this landmark United Nations World Conference on Women was an over-abundance of reading material in all the major linguistic groups.
Among the stacks of position papers, reports, magazines, news releases, newspapers and county reports was a publication entitled Men on Men. This well researched and clearly written anthology was published by the Equality Affairs Division of the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs in Sweden.
Men on Men was written by a multi-disciplinary team of Swedish men who obviously had the personal freedom, the emotional maturity and the intellectual capacity to critique both the positive and negative legacy of the patriarchal system in which their masculine identities were honed and maintained.
Among the male writers in this engaging volume were theologians, sportsmen, fathers, industrialists and other professionals. While it is a fact that all these men were white, middle class, university educated and not poor, the power of their words and reasoning should resonate with readers across racial,
cultural and gender barriers.
UNIVERSAL APPEAL
Indeed, there is universal appeal in the insights on how men can get by without being almighty; the vision of the role of men in the arena of sports; men's responsibility for male violence and a critical analysis of the theological approach to masculinity and equality.
Over and above the appeal of the persuasive arguments of the men who penned the articles in Men on Men is the reasoning behind the need for the
publication.
The rationale for this gift to the women's conference was articulated by the then Swedish Prime Minister who was emphatic in the view that "We can no longer afford to be patriarchal, to be sexist and to discriminate." Furthermore, he argues that "In order to make economic progress we need social progress." And while it is true that in many societies there have been significant changes in the traditional patterns and roles of women it must be recognised that "merely breaking down the barriers faced by women in the labour market and in public life is not enough."
"The next breakthrough is a change in men!"
PATRIARCHAL MINDSET
This writer is of the opinion that more men need to take a stance and confront the kinds of men who are bent on prolonging the agony of the patriarchal mindset and the broader societal framework that fuels the resistance to full equality between women and men.
Since we are in Black History Month, it is interesting to note that a few courageous black men have "thrown down the gauntlet" to the black diasporic community whose established spokesmen find every historical and cultural reason not to change the negative behaviours that are wreaking havoc in the lives of too many black women.
The July 3, 2004 edition of the Edmonton Journal carried a report written by Don Babwin of the Associated Press, Chicago. Mr. Babwin informed his readers that Bill Cosby told "a room full of activists that too many black men were beating their wives while their children run around not knowing how to read and write."
Mr. Cosby makes no apologies for washing the "black dirty laundry" in public, and he emphasised that the black community in the USA cannot blame whites for problems such as teen pregnancy and high school dropout.
In a similar vein a few courageous Jamaican men are confronting the brotherhood in order to break ranks with the patriarch.
RED AND WHITE FANTASY
On February 14, 2005 a large percentage of our citizens were caught up in the red and white fantasy of romantic love and the annual Valentine's spending frenzy. All this excitement could not block out Basil Walters' story in one of the local newspapers under the caption "Stop sleeping with your daughters." Mr. Walters reported that Professor Rupert Lewis has called on Jamaican men "to take control of their sexuality and refrain from having sex with their daughters."
In his address to the men and women who gathered in Hope Gardens for the 'Season to Come Reason' seminar series, Professor Lewis is reported to have alerted black people that their destiny is in their hands and they must stop looking outside of themselves to find the solution to all the issues that confront them in all spheres of life.
He also argued that far too many black men are having sex with their daughters and getting away with this practice "because there is no stigma attached to it."
The strong voices of the white men of Sweden and black male leaders of both the USA and Jamaica are needed to break through the heavy silences of the patriarchal structure.
More men need to speak out and tell the truth about the way men have been taught to broker power, to misuse their human potential and to oppress and restrict the developmental energies of women, minorities and all categories of marginalised and oppressed humanity.
In this speaking out mode men will undoubtedly say many of the things that feminists and other women activists have been saying for decades. But men must say these things because men's voices still have more credibility than the strongest voices of women.
Dr. Glenda Simms is the evecutive director of the Bureau of Women Affairs.
