Eugene Hung is proud to be a feminist.
This California math teacher says he started thinking to the idea of what the world is like for girls when their daughter was born 14 years.
She began to think about how things were for her female colleagues at the university, who did not feel safe walking alone from the library to their houses.
“They had to deal with that and I do not. I realized how much privilege I have and how blind I was, “Hung told the BBC.
” As a man in society, I took it for granted. sitting down ”
“ Feminist father ”
His awareness made him a activist for women’s rights. She started the blog Feminist Asian Dad (Feminist Asian Father) to advocate for female empowerment.
Hung blogs on a wide range of topics, from Mulan, a Disney animated film with a strong female lead, to the casting of Kamala Harris – the first Asian American woman to be Vice President of USA
Many articles address issues of consent, harassment at work and sexual violence. Hung feels strongly that men need to be a part of those conversations .
“Men must realize that, at least in EE .US., Almost 90% of cases of violence against women are perpetrated by men ”, she affirms.
“ Many times this is framed within the problems of women, but it comes from men, So where does the problem lie? Well, well, the problem lies with us. Why don’t we talk more about this? ”
Intentions vs. actions
Recognize that men’s attitudes have changed significantly over the span of a few generations. But glaring gender inequalities are still a part of everyday life.
Globally, women are paid a 23% less than a man for the same job, according to the United Nations.
Women spend more than twice as much time as men doing domestic and care work without remuneration.
In more than 100 countries, women are prohibited from doing certain jobs.
“If these were simply women’s issues, they would have dealt with them a long time ago,” Hung says.
However, he notes that addressing those issues requires cooperation and men “are not really involved in discussing those issues.”
“Until we [los hombres] talk to our families, friends, neighbors, communities and society in general, we are not going to make significant progress,” says Hung.
So why aren’t men doing more?
8M 2020: what role should men play in feminism
The fear factor
“Men are socially programmed from an early age with this idea of getting as far away as possible from what characterizes the behavior of women or girls,” explains Ludo Gabriele, a blogger who writes about masculinity and fatherhood.
“As a result, when faced with a situation of power in the workplace, the root belief is that you are a traitor of your own kind. if you support a woman, ”he told the BBC.
Gabriele is in charge of branding an initiative called MARC (Men Advocating for Real Change). Engages employed women and men to address sexism in the workplace.
In a study of 2020, the NGO Catalyst polled 1. 500 men in Canada on sexism at work and found several explanations why many of them do nothing to stop it.
While 86% of respondents said they wanted to end sexist behavior when they saw it, only 31% felt confident in being able to do it.
“Our research identified three key obstacles: ignorance, apathy and fear,” Alixandra Pollack, Vice President of MARC, told the BBC.
On the fear factor he explained: “In particular the fear of being judged by other men, the fear of losing status among other men, the fear of losing status in the workplace. ”
Gabriele added:“ The fear component is the fear of not being able to be part of the men’s group, especially if the dominant culture of the organization is on the combative side. ”
“ But there is also fear not knowing where to start, because there are many men with good intentions who are afraid of making a mistake and being marginalized. ”
Moment of clarity
MARC offers workshops for executives and other employees of partner companies (photo: file) Getty Images
To board For those issues, MARC partners with companies like Chevron and Proter & Gamble to enroll employees in activities like short workshops or up to a year in length.
The teachings can cause some discomfort among those who feel “a little ignorant” at first, according to one participant who was reprimanded for using racist language.
“But then you get over the momentary embarrassment and it becomes a great learning experience,” said the competitor.
One woman described a “shocking moment” when the classmates attending the session were asked to cross the room if they had ever experienced any type of sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior from the men.
“On both occasions, each of the women crossed the room. And that was an incredibly shocking moment that I doubt any man who attended the show will forget, “the woman said.
” I think it was almost a shock to them that each one of women would have experienced sexual harassment. I don’t think they can understand it deeply, but it is reality. ”
“The elephant in the sala ”
Men like Hung and Gabriele want others to“ recognize that we are part of the problem and that we must be part of the solution ”, as Gabriele wrote in one of her first blog posts titled“ Revealing myself as a feminist male and why you should do it too ”.
Gabriele started writing on her blog Woke Daddy (Papi conscious) two months after his daughter Sofia was born, in 2017. Three years earlier, he had given up a seemingly enviable corporate career as a company director.
He had 31 years, a house, a wife and son for whom he didn’t have enough time. He felt “miserable”, with a “deep feeling of dissatisfaction.”
Later, Gabriele realized that her unhappiness was closely linked to having lived within what called a “male box” .
He described it as a narrow definition of masculinity that includes feeling awkward with feelings, preferring career and status to authenticity, and being suspicious of the opposite sex.
Those are roles that many men are unhappy with today in day. As she writes on her Instagram account, “real men are feminists.”
A recent survey by beauty supply company Dove and Promundo, an NGO that advocates for healthy masculinity, found of 85% of parents in seven countries (Brazil, Argentina, USA, UK, Canada, Netherlands and Japan) said that would do anything to be more involved in the physical care of their children.
However, a large proportion of them had not requested leave after the birth or adoption of their children.
They blamed attitudes among colleagues and managers, which they said had made them feel i Unable to request removal.
“Give families more options”
Josh Levs, a global authority on business and gender equality, says that despite all the evidence to the contrary, managers still believe in “false stereotypes of men as lazy and distant.”
Levs is the author of the best-seller “All-In” and has been appointed by the UN as a Global Gender Advocate.
He told the BBC that bosses still believe that a man who asks for paternity leave or flexible hours will “lie on the couch to watch sports on TV.”
“We have a system that forces women to stay at home and men to work,” she pointed out.
To change that, says Levs , society has to rethink se its laws and policies -such as those that affect paternity leave and equal opportunities for men and women -in addition to perceptions and the stigma that comes with traditional gender roles.
“Until we address that, we will not have equal opportunities in the workplace.”
He adds that this system is not only bad for people, it is also bad for business .
“Companies do better when they have the best people in the right jobs. Women are half of those people, so a woman is probably the best person for a job half the time. ”
Levs adds that to nations who have empowered their women “are doing better” by offering equal opportunities and addressing inequality.
“When we liberate families to make their own decisions about who will take care of the care [de los hijos] and who will go to work, companies do better, economies do better, nations do better and families do better. ”
Remember that you can receive notifications from BBC World. Download the new version of our app and activate them so as not to miss our best content.