New York: International Men’s Day is celebrated every year on 19 November to honor and and appreciate the positive value men bring to their family, society, community, and the world.
This year, International Men’s Day will be observed on Saturday, 19 November 2022 under the theme “Helping Men and Boys”.
International Men’s Day helps recognize and celebrate boys and men and their contributions to union, society, community, nation, family, marriage, and childcare. The aim is also to promote basic awareness of men’s issues.
HISTORY
Thomas Oaster was a director of the Missouri Center for Men’s Studies, and in the early 1990s, he invited organizations from the U.S., Australia, and Malta to conduct small events with an aim to celebrate International Men’s Day during the month of February. Oaster hosted these events for two years, but in the year 1995 very few organizations attended the event thus resulting in the discontinuation of the function.
In 1999 Jerome Teelucksingh revived the day when he realized that there was no day to celebrate men who didn’t have kids, or who were young boys and teenagers. He also understood the importance of positive male role models and chose to celebrate International Men’s Day on 19 November, the day also marked the birth anniversary of his father, his personal role model.
Since then, International Men’s Day promotes positive aspects of male identity rather than negative gender stereotyping. The day intends to highlight the importance of men’s physical and mental health and positive masculinity.
Significance and celebration:
This day is dedicated to speaking up about men’s wellbeing and health, their sexual struggles and the societal conditioning that they are subjected to. This is also the day when discrimination faced by them are spoken about and better gender relations are promised to be created. The ultimate aim of this day is to promote basic humanitarian values and awareness on men.
International Men’s Day is based on six pillars which focuses on building positive male role models – the working-class heroes of the day-today-life. It also focuses on celebrating men’s contributions to society, community, family, marriage, child care, and to the environment. The third pillar promises to take care of men’s health and social, emotional, physical and spiritual wellbeing. It also highlights on the discrimination faced by them in multiple spheres. International Men’s Day creates awareness on gender relations and focuses on promoting gender equality. It also promises to create a better and safer world where every being can thrive to their full potential.
International Men’s Day includes topics around mental health, toxic masculinity, prevalence of male suicide, promoting men’s health, improving gender relations, to name a few. If you are wondering how to celebrate the day, here’s an idea: On this day, donate to causes related to men’s health, or make/share posters that talk about men’s mental health and physical ailments, and join conversations on social media to spread the word.
