Equality My Ass – International Gender Days Aren’t

What did you do to celebrate International Men’s Day?

Nothing.

What?

Never heard of it?

But I bet you've heard of International Day of the Girl which was held last month, on October 11.

Yesterday was International Men’s Day (IMD) according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), a specialized body of the United Nations to promote – among other things – gender equity in education, science and culture.

And it’s not as if International Men’s Day is new – according to UNESCO it’s been celebrated in Australia, The Caribbean, North America, Asia, Europe and Africa since it’s inception in Trinidad and Tobago in 1999.

I saw something briefly flash across the Twitter universe about IMD but that was it – one lone tweet from the UN.

International Day of the Girl on the other hand, was plastered in papers, broadcast on the television and radio newscasts, and made truly international headlines.

And you've probably heard of International Women’s Day – or you will when it gets just as much press as the International Day of the Girl on March 8.

All days of gender-specific celebration and awareness are organized by the exact same organization – UNESCO.

However, obviously, not all receives equal opportunity – pun intentional.

When International Women’s Day rolls around, every year, the media goes berserk to capture video, images and audio for their television, print and radio stories.

International Day of the Girl made all the major wire services, was carried locally here in all the big national papers, on the evening newscasts, and even was tweeted about repeatedly on Twitter.

But International Men’s Day – what a yawn – one lonely tweet, just to acknowledge it exists.

Last month, in this blog, we wrote about how International Day of the Girl is discriminatory against men, women and even little boys.

We are all human beings, and we shouldn't honour or celebrate our differences of any kind – that’s the foundation for any line of discrimination.

If we as a species are going to continue to grow and prosper in a world which is constantly getting harder to survive in, we need to pull together as a species, sharing our strengths, instead of highlighting the very things which makes us work apart.

Global warming, economic turmoil, war, famine, terrorism – none of these will ever be beaten if we continue a battle of the sexes, as these – and most issues affecting our survival – are not divided along gender, but span across all of humanity.

So what did I do to celebrate International Men’s Day?

Nothing.

Why would I want to celebrate a sexist day of division, when we really need to co-exist and work together?