Pixabay
Pixabay
International Women’s Day is held every year on 8 March. It’s used as a platform to highlight gender issues, the fight for equality, and to tackle the problems women face that men don’t.
But of course, no International Women’s Day is complete without some philistine asking “but what about International Men’s Day?” – It happens every year, and there are no end of whiny blokes feeling left out because today isn’t there designated special day. Talk about first-world problems…
So we thought it’d be nice (well, necessary) to prepare you all for the eventuality of someone piping up about this on Thursday. Whether it’s a co-worker, friend or family member, get ready to piss on their bonfire if they start kicking off…
“Why is there no International Men’s Day?” Well, there is actually…
Perhaps the all-time favourite gripe on a day like today is this. There is always “that guy”. The one who is desperate to frame himself as some sort of victim. There’s a very eloquent and efficient way of shutting down this type of person, though.
International Men’s Day is 19 November. Make sure the whingers are aware of this. Because it doesn’t give people the chance to complain, it very much flies under the radar.
“Women want special treatment, not equality!”
This is the level of ire reserved for our most dedicated misogynists. The people who get very red and sweaty at the mere mention of an International Women’s Day.
3. They claim to want equality, but expect special treatment.
Feminists like to think men and women are the same, but freak out the second men start treating them like. Feminists want men to become feminized and sensitive, rather than masculating themselves for equality. ….(i)— #CanaryReports (@canarymugume) February 6, 2018
These guys will be out in force today. So perhaps its best to remind them that wanting to be paid the same amount money for doing the same job isn’t “special treatment”. Wanting to end the 23% difference in wages between men and women isn’t just “a plea for attention”.
And if financial inequality doesn’t push the right buttons, you could always remind the moaners of our gender violence issues. One in five South African women have been physically abused by their partners. AfricaCheck estimate a rape is reported once every 12 minutes. And that’s just the cases that make it to the police:
Only one in nine cases of rape are actually reported. That’s a sample size of 110 out of 1,000. Of those 110, only three of four will result in a conviction.
It’s getting to the point where spousal abuse and crimes against women are seen as a ‘low-risk’ endeavour. The chances of getting successfully reported, trialled and convicted are extremely unlikely.
“Women have never had it so good”
A problematic statement worth its weight in shit. This is a surprisingly common attitude, suggesting women should be happy with their lot.
We had a glance at Stats SA’s Victims of Crime Survey for 2016/17. Where exactly on here does it look like the battle is won?
- A whopping 32% of men don’t believe women should have the same constitutional rights as women. That’s nearly a third of men in the country
- 7.7% of those surveyed believe it’s OK to strike their partner if they argue with them
- 6.1% of men in this study claim it’s acceptable to hit their wife if she ‘goes out without telling them’
- Farcically, 1.3% of males asked said that ‘burning the food’ was an acceptable reason to physically assault their partner
“Why do we need International Women’s Day”?
The reason we are chucking facts and figures at you. Don’t forget these things. Being a woman is hard work, especially in South Africa. The reason we have specifically designated days like this is to have these difficult conversations.
It’s not just in our country where they have it tough. Women are generally patronised and overlooked across the world. We’ve indeed come a long way in the last few decades, but the bar was set ridiculously low back then. Things need to keep improving.
We pretty much agree that women deserve more than one day to put these issues on the table. We’d also concur that there are 364 days of the year that are equally important in the fight for women’s rights.
But today is also the best chance we have to discuss these issues. It’s a trending topic, and usually the talk of the office. So please, don’t be shy. If you’ve got a moaner in your vicinity, hit them with some cold, hard facts.
