Feminism and gender equality are much maligned concepts these days. A number of men feel victimised and terms such as feminazi have gained currency. Many believe meninism is the need of the hour and there is even a men's organisation that performs last rites for living wives. However, there are still men who do ‘get’ what women are striving for; that they are just pro-women, not anti men:
The chairman of the Mahindra group and twitterer with well over 6 million followers tweeted this. Babysitting his one-year-old grandson brought home the reality of the image; causing him to salute to women and the fact that they have to work much harder for success than their male counterparts.
This commentator agreed, pointing out that women need to work twice as hard just to be recognised in the workplace.
Mahindra’s tweet points out how women are still expected to shoulder most domestic responsibilities and be primary carers, which is why women start out professionally with such a disadvantage. The feminist movement isn’t about expecting doles; merely creating a level playing field points out this tweet.
Women work outside the home, men must help out in the home. It’s simple and gender equality must start at home, as this twitter user says.
As this tweet points out, corporates often give biological and social reasons; excuses such as security to deny women advancements within an organisation and to pay women less. This sort of discrimination still thrives.
This tweet also draws attention to unpaid labour by women in the house. While women who have jobs are paid for them, there is neither pay nor recognition for homemakers who cook, clean, bear and look after children and care for elders at home.
This commentator pointedly asked Mahindra whether he planned to make changes for women's working conditions in his organisation. As the head of one of India’s biggest business houses, his word can largely impact leave and maternity policies of the organisation.
This commentator seems to feel that men have to carry ‘load of 3 persons’ in a race whereas women who work have domestic help who become ‘de facto mothers’ to children. He is clearly upset about all this. Another man tweeted that men have to operate under many familial and social pressures but they don’t ‘whine’ or ‘play the victim card’ as women do.
This commentator levels the misandry charge against Mahindra. Many other men also seemed outraged by Manindra’s tweet; which they feel supports the ‘cancer of feminism’. While there were a lot of men who tweeted their support, there were several men who simply do not recognize their own entrenched privilege vis-à-vis women. Men who are aggrieved at what they see as women receiving special treatment, are the men who refuse to acknowledge the fact that men continue to occupy positions of power within the family and in society. Obviously, the feminist movement has a long, uphill task before it still.
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