by Ryan Dube

Created on: March 12, 2008

APATHY AND GENDER INEQUALITY

Apathy about gender equality is best represented in which things within society we choose to ignore, when decisions are made based on gender.

There is no better place to examine gender equality, in contemporary society, than the issues that men silently suffer through every day of their lives. Men feel they have no "right" to complain, so they remain silent in the face of clear sexism.

In this article - I will offer those men somewhat of a voice, at least in some small measure.

There are thousands upon thousands of books on the subject of discrimination against women in America. These include crimes against women, sexism against women; domestic violence against women...the list is very long. As it should be - the history of gender inequality against women in this country is a long and sorry tale. If only we learned from the past.

I've spent the last ten years studying this issue. What I've learned truly has shocked me. I found that people in society, in general, are quick to believe the media portrayal of the issue of gender inequality - which is, in general, from the female perspective and for the most part focuses only on women's issues. However there a very large part of the same story that remains unheard. In a March 7, 1994 Time Magazine editorial, Warren Farrell wrote; "only women have contributed their tone to the monologue on gender. Men must contribute their views before we are ready for a synthesis."

While I think most of the civilized world understands that there are elements, roles, and rules within society that serve to keep women "in their place" - defined by a particular role that was accepted for them for centuries...progress will only come when we can understand that society has a number of rules, roles and elements that only serve to keep men "in their place" as well. When the knee-jerk reaction to blame men, or the mythological "patriarchal" society - the genders are only torn further apart, and progress can never truly take place. Other important factors that should also be considered, as well as gender, is the impact of race and class, which often has even greater effect on these issues than gender does.

An Oct 1991 Esquire article defined a few of the issues that men face in our society:

- Men die eight years earlier than women.
- Men are four times more likely to commit suicide.
- For every woman who gets murdered, three men do.
- There are few, if any, shelters for domestically battered men (yet these men do exist).
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