Men too are victims of sexism, finds survey

While there is constant discussion about the struggle for gender equality how much of this concern is directed towards men This is the question that 10 college students mdash all girls mdash set out to answer through a citywide survey of both men and womenThe group of girls carried out the survey across Mumbai as part of the assessment for their BA programme at St Xavierrsquos They were guided by professor Avkash Jadhav in centreWhat they learnt was that not only is there a lack of awareness about sexism but several men feel targeted by it Some men felt neglected because not enough attention was paid to their rights while others felt they were being discriminated against or even harassed unfairlyOut in the openOne of the first questions the respondents were asked was a basic definition of sexism nearly a quarter thought that it meant discrimination against women onlyThere were several other indicators of unsatisfactory focus on menrsquos rights Over 60 per cent of the men said they felt threatened by the numerous laws aimed at protecting women and even more respondents mdash male and female mdash agreed that women sometimes misuse these lawsldquoThis survey is in no way against feminism but instead highlights the problem of sexism and the lack of awareness surrounding the same the fact that men also face humiliation or harassmentdiscriminationBecause this is a patriarchal society with the misconception of males being superior men are too embarrassed to talk about these problemsrdquo said Avkash Jadhav professor at St Xavierrsquos College who guided the allgirl group of BA students working on the surveyThe girls reached out to 2000 people across the city with male respondents comprising more than half the sample population What surprised the students though was the backlash they received from womenBacklash from womenldquoMany women looked at us with such disgust and didnrsquot understand why we were bothered about rights for men They didnrsquot feel that it was a big problem and insisted that men donrsquot face as many problems as women dordquo said one of the students Shivira Mukherji 19In fact when asked whether it was okay to humiliate men in public almost half the women said there was nothing wrong with it Perhaps this is why several men said they were wary of helping women in distress as they are often misunderstood and looked upon suspiciously by womenOthers pointed out that when they complained of being harassed by women they are often not taken seriously by the authorities Despite their different opinions on sexism an overwhelming 73 per cent of both men and women agreed that there is a need for organisations to have menrsquos development cells similar to the womenrsquos development cells that have now become mandatory at colleges and other institutionsldquoOur survey doesnrsquot look down upon feminism but only tries to highlight the problem that exists in our society but is ignored Hopefully this survey will help in clearing the airrdquo said another student from the group which will now share the survey results with the statersquos women and child rights department as well as the University Grants Commission UGC so as to reach out to a larger audience through them