Women’s Lib
The new millennium has come and brought with it significant changes in the role of women. What does this mean for men – does it mean that we are becoming marginalized (meaning less important) and under more pressure to perform or is it that our role has acquired even more importance. A lot of people tend to look at this issue in terms of men being less likely to achieve in education and their lack of participation in the family. But, on the other hand persons like Prof Barry Chevannes points out that in terms of work the glass ceiling is still high and largely controlled by men. Similarly the increase in male oriented institutions such as Fathers Inc. shows that the role that men play or need to play has become increasingly important in today’s society.
But women’s liberation does not mean that men are becoming less important, what it means is that women are becoming more important in areas that they didn’t originally and are now taking on equal responsibility as men. Michael Kimmel (American Manhood-A Cultural History), highlights this when he speaks about Alan Johnson’s book Gender Knot-Unraveling our Patriarchal Legacy, by saying, “as any good knitter will tell you the only way to untangle a knot is not to pull hard on one end but to gently shake the entire skein until all the threads are loosened.” If we are to affect the social fabric and make positive changes in society then both men and women need to work together as equals. So women’s liberation is a welcomed addition and does not take away from the importance of the role of a man.
The pressure that men come under is derived from the importance of men in Jamaican society. Men are being asked now more than ever to perform their roles as expected by society. With the increase in sex offences (especially carnal abuse) and crime, whose roots are said to start with the breakdown of the family, Jamaican men are being implored to take up the responsibility of being role models and more importantly good fathers. This in order to try to make the family return to being the first place where good values and attitudes are learnt.
According to Hilton Grace of Youth Now, the role of men is very important especially in this regard, as psychological studies have shown that a man’s presence in the home helps ‘bolster a sense of respect and responsibility’ especially for young males. He states that a father or father figure ‘helps young men with issues of masculinity’ which he thinks will help greatly in removing the kind of decadence present in our society.
I think the only way that men have become less important is because they are no longer the means by which women can move up the status quo. Once when a women married a man, he was seen as the one who would carry her up the social ladder and in this light men have lost their importance. Generally though, it is hard for men’s role in society to become less important, as the mere definition of most societies as patriarchal shows the importance of the role of the male. This term in itself only serves to point out that society is dependent on men to perform their roles, whether to control or institute change, in society so it can go forward. What has changed though or needs to change, is women being integral in helping men play their role instead of separating themselves.
Dameon Eunick is a freelance writer.
