Stray Thoughts

Before the Covid pandemic struck, and work from home became the norm I conducted a few workshops with corporate sector staff on men and gender equality. In most cases my sessions would follow sessions on sexual harassment in the workplace and the POSH law. By this time most men in the group would be apprehensive and justifying in their heads how their work place situations were not as described in the sessions earlier. In these circumstances it would be difficult for me to draw them into a discussion on creating a gender friendly workplace. This led me to think whether from the point of view of workplace productivity or even a more congenial workplace does it make sense to have stand alone sessions on men, masculinity and gender equality in the workplace for the corporate sector. I have been working on men, masculinity and gender equality in the non-profit and development sector for over two decades now. We have looked at why it is important to involve men to improve women’s health out...

No! This is not a blog on POSH. But yes, it is meant for men. Over the years the term gender has become common in our everyday lexicon, but men still view it like a proverbial banana peel on their path. They avoid it, they step over it or past it. Sometimes they even wonder whether it will rear up like a snake. But whatever they do, they are always careful not to step on it. They have a primal fear that if they do, they will invariably slip! When I first started talking about gender with men, doctors all, from different states in India, about 25 years ago, there was a confusion about what the term meant. Doctors dealt with the body, and they all assumed that gender was the same as sex. Gender differences for them were all the difference between women and men. From mustaches and breasts to why women were better mothers and men stronger and braver. In those days, the many forms that mark our interactions with officaldom, the term ‘gender’ was used when it wanted the person filling it...