International Women’s Day…A Letter of Love From Men

March 8, 2012 Michael Kaufman

It’s another day for most women in the world: breakfast is cooked, diapers are changed, fields are tended, computers switched on, patients treated, students taught, and houses cleaned.

In the distance, groups of men thump the drums of war. They talk of the cleansing power of explosives stuffed into a car. They anonymously rain missiles from the sky. They order their soldiers to shoot their own citizens to retain their boney grip of power.

Men in Bangladesh gather in support of International Women's Day 2005

Closer to home, there are still far too many men who believe it is their right to hit a woman.  Or if not exactly their right, they say it was an unfortunate outcome of a temper that is a bit out of control, a bad day at the office, or a bit too much to drink.

There are still far too many men who feel that the difficult, glorious, exhausting, and exhilarating work of raising our children is, somehow, not our work, too.   And, who also believe they deserve to have someone cook for them and clean for them as if they were a helpless child or a king.

There are still men who don’t see how our governments, our economies, and our places of worship will benefit from the equal leadership of women.

There are too many men who oppose women’s reproductive rights and control over their own bodies.

There are men who believe that women in the workplace or on the streets are open targets for their jokes, whistles, comments, and proposals.

There are too many men who still don’t understand the simplest of words:  No.

On this day, March 8, International Women’s Day, there seems to be more than the normal disconnect between the lives and experiences of women and the lives and experiences of men.  For nowadays, women are challenging this blind exercise of power, whether meted out in the battlefield, at the office, or in the home.

As much as any single thing, the past forty years have been shaped by the courage of countless women and girls.  In only one or two generations, unequal social relationships and ideas of womanhood and manhood that date back seven, eight thousand years have been swept aside.  No corner of the globe is untouched.  No institution is immune.

And at last, an increasing number of men are responding to the urgent and impassioned voices of women.  We are challenging our own assumptions about what it means to be men.  We are reshaping our relationships with children.  We are thinking about our words and behaviour.

We are building a new bond with women, one based not on domination but on shared responsibilities, respect, and love.

I cannot speak on behalf of any other man, but I know I have millions of brothers who share these words:  To the women and girls around the world who continue to inspire us, happy International Women’s Day!

Michael Kaufman
First published March 8, 2011, republished March 8, 2012
www.michaelkaufman.com

And click here to read the statement: “Men for Women’s Choice.”

En español: Día Internacional de las Mujeres … Una carta de amor de los hombres

3 Comments on “International Women’s Day…A Letter of Love From Men

  1. International Women’s Day 2019 is celebrating on 8 March, a propitious date to celebrate and vindicate the role of women in society, but also an opportunity to demand greater gender equality. Google also celebrates Women’day with a special doodle. Here is Everything You Need To Know About the IWD. The theme for IWD 2019 is #BalanceForBetter.

  2. Dear Kaufman,
    That’s such a good article that it has some very important points that can be forgotten in every day life.
    Albeit some say women are important in our lives, I sometimes can’t understand what kind of importance it is. Are they important just because they are our mothers, sisters, darlings. Not at all… They are important because they are just them. Of course they are important as our mothers, sisters or darling. That’s not the point. The point is that people have rights just because they are human. Men or women, it does not matter.So the importance does not or (at least) shold not depend on the roles of genders.
    I know that if one can change herself/himself, it means, she/he is capable of changing the world.
    I wish I could change the world in a minute.I can’t but I will try to equalize the opportunities of women and men in business life, at least in my family, having a friendly atmospehere and listening, not just hearing the one who is talking, we could have a good starting point.
    And then,then will be more beautifuland hopeful than now. I believe, it will.
    To sum up, I still have hopes…
    Sincerly, Fatih Emrah

Comments are closed.