Firstly, I salute you on this initiative. I read your articles and couldn’t agree more that it’s about time we have a strong voice for men, especially in politics. Without people like you, gender oppression of men and boys would continue ad infinitum.
I am writing to applaud your great work in the gender arena, to introduce myself as a fan of your work and men’s rights supporter, and to give input into your party’s manifesto.
Since I am non-British (I am a Kenyan), I will give you the foreigner’s perspective and hopefully help shape your party’s policy on international gender issues.
There is a misconception about gender relations in the developing world. Consider that the view you have of the developing world is mostly the portrayal of the western media. This is the same media that discriminates against men in the west, so you can be sure the bias extends to foreign lands. I recently saw a woman on CNN talking about Rape Awareness Month in Canada. She was saying that if a man sleeps with a drunk woman then this should be termed as rape. What she forgot to say (and the sorry excuse of a journalist forgot to ask) is that the same law should apply when a woman sleeps with a drunk man. What about when both man and woman are drunk? I am sure you get my drift: the press reports you see of horror tales of rape and women abuse is a totally biased view of the western and local media in Africa.
Men and boys in the developing world are increasingly being marginalized by feminist government policy and laws. Most of these laws are usually well-meaning but have a negative impact on men and boys. This is caused by the premise on which they are based – this is the biased premise that African tradition is biased against females and in favour of males. Nothing could be further from the truth. The truth is BOTH males and females are equally positively and negatively impacted by tradition and culture.
Consider a popular traditional community like the Maasai. What happens in this culture? Girls are frequently pulled out of school and into forced marriages to old men, usually as second or third wives. This is true, backward and oppressive. So we have clauses against that in our penal code. In this same Maasai community, boys are frequently forced out of school to undergo traditional rites of passage. In these rites, boys are forced to hunt and kill lions and wild animals usually at great risk to their own lives. They are also taught how to fend for the community as husbands, fathers and generally protectors. After that, few of them return to school. They are taken into child labour to look after community livestock and property. These are what are called “morans” (warriors). Ironically, nothing is mentioned of these boys who drop out of school, into child labour, and have their lives endangered as a routine. This is viewed as normal or even commendable. This creates a false stereotype that makes negative male traditions tolerable. Unfortunately, there are no laws against these things. Gender researchers and reporters never look into them and therefore you have never thought of the plight of the African boy child. This situation no doubt influences your view of gender issues in Africa. You might therefore think feminism is justified here, but not in the west.
Another issue we face in the third world is that we are mostly financially dependent on the developed world, which of course is dominated by western countries like US and UK. The west influences immensely our legal and social system through NGOs, funding and such. So you have many NGOs pushing for women’s and girls’ rights and ignoring men’s and boys’ rights. By this I mean groups like Oxfam. I know of men’s rights groups which have been denied funding by western financiers who insisted there isn’t a need to pursue men’s rights. Why would African men need rights, they are traditionally privileged, right?
In general, let me propose a few points for your international gender policy:
- Any British foreign policy on gender must recognize men’s and boy’s rights and issues and ensure they are safeguarded. States that fail to protect both genders should be viewed negatively and if appropriate sanctioned.
- Any affirmative actions (such as parliamentary gender quotas) must have caveats to avoid excesses and avoid disenfranchising any gender. In Kenya we have women-only seats in parliament. As a result, women have double representation, which leads to bad laws that oppress men.
- Where women have special seats, there shall be special seats for men’s rights representatives who shall be nominated by widely recognized men’s rights groups (not political parties). This will serve to safeguard men’s rights in passage of laws.
- Any gender-related public funding must cater for both genders and must be reviewed frequently to ensure the equality of genders is respected. This should also apply to private funding.
- Any public body that has organs for protection of one gender shall be compelled to have organs and policies to protect both genders. By this I have in mind bodies like UN which have UN Women and UN Women Development Fund but nothing for men and boys.
- There shall be no state privileges for any gender such as exemption from paying taxes. (I have heard some women proposing this as a way of “economic empowerment” of women in Kenya).
- Any laws or policies touching on relations between the genders (e.g. marriage laws, divorce laws, matrimonial property laws, etc) MUST have the input of widely recognized representatives of both genders. These inputs shall be published publicly so the views of both genders are catered for. This will deal with the current situation where women are exclusively paid alimony and child support, and also biased laws like VAWA. (Believe me in Kenya we have an even more repressive version of VAWA – it’s called the Sexual Offences Act 2006. In Kenya rape attracts worse sentencing than murder or violent robbery. And yet there is no caveat against false accusations.)
Well, there’s my 2 cents!
I look forward to continuing this great discourse with you.
Best Regards,
Steve Kamotho
Nairobi, Kenya
kamothosn@gmail.com ”
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