It’s fair enough that for as long as it’s been around, feminism has centered around women due to the historical oppression of all women, as well as this focus being implied in the name, but what a lot of people forget is that feminism is about the equality of all genders, including men.
Gender inequality isn’t as black and white as “women have it bad, men have it good” despite the fact that women do tend to get handed the short end of the stick. Like many other women and self-proclaimed feminists like myself, I tend to fall into the traps of totally disregarding men's issues simply because they’re not on my radar or because “they don’t have it as bad as me” which is an extremely toxic mindset.
Every day, men’s issues seem to be disregarded and despite the fact that they harm the lives of half of the world’s population. Men have much higher suicide rates than women; male victims are less likely to believed when it comes to sexual assault, rape and domesitic violence; almost 93% of workplace deaths are male (Safe Work Australia) ; men are more likely to be homeless or have a mental illness and are also likely to be given a longer court sentence or be falsely accused of rape or sexual assault. That’s not even counting the social stigmas of men not being allowed to express emotions or femininity without being ridiculed.
Advocating for justice for men DOES NOT mean that women's issues are disregarded or are made less of, it means that all issues are addressed, allowing us to move closer to an equal society. Turning injustices into a competition will only move us further away from equality and men’s needs have to stop being brushed aside in order to make this happen.
Written By Ella Klassen
Artwork by Zara Masood
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