Based on a historic and general perception, we all claim to know what it means to be a man!
While growing up, our gynocentric society made us believe that masculinity was about strength. We are taught that being a man is about not crying, rather it's about protecting women and children along with providing for the family.
But with the change in times when even the historic protector and provider role of men is being narrated as perpetuated from toxic masculinity and where hollow feminism is painting the entire male gender in a negative light, the whole idea of masculinity is not simple anymore. Now, even the government policies are influenced and biased!
The Bitter Truth
Today, with the governments’ unjustifiable inclination towards a specific gender under the shadow of Article 15(3), ignoring Article 14, Article 15(1) and 21 of The Constitution of India, there is no denying that there are many human rights issues that uniquely or disproportionately affect men!
As per the constitution:
Article 14 says: The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India. [Equality before law]
Article 15(1) says: The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them. [Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth]
Article 21 says: No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to the procedure established by law. [Protection of life and personal liberty]
Whereas Article 15(3) says: Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any special provision for women and children.
But compartmentalizing, dissecting, segregating, inverting, and running contrary to the jurisprudential cardinal canon of interpretation that asks provisos of The Constitution of India to be read as a whole to ascertain its true import, Article 15(3) is not interpreted as a co-proviso to Article 15(1)! Article 15(1) prohibits discrimination ‘on the ground of sex’; but government reads Articles 15(1) along with Article 15(3) to imply that Article 15(1) and 15(3) jointly allows the State to discriminate in favour of women, against men; but not to discriminate in favour of men, against women, or not to even allow men justice against women.
Inspired and instigated by gynocentrism and misandry, governments conveniently ignore Article 14, Article 15(1) and 21 of The Constitution of India with regard to men and as a result, the pattern of allowing women’s violence towards men and just checking men’s violence towards women has become a norm while enacting discriminatory and biased laws against men.
All the petitions & pleadings we made and all our protests in the last over 15 years have fallen only to deaf ears of the government and nothing is being listened resulting in around 95,000 male suicides in India each year.
Therefore, with the current scenario where the laws discriminate in favour of women against men, it’s high time now that India, which witnesses around 95000 male suicides each year, should have a government platform like National Commission for Men to address various issues related to men, including, but not limited to the following few:
Low Life Expectancy
Prostate cancer
Lack of budget for Men
Paternity fraud uniquely affects men
Infant Male Genital Mutilation
False rape allegations
Domestic violence
Victimization of men
Gender-biased laws
Criminal court bias/Misandry
Sentencing disparity
Child Custody/Child Support
War deaths overwhelmingly men
Boys falling behind in education
Mental well-being
Homelessness
Senior citizen’s Issues
Suicide overwhelmingly men
Workplace deaths disproportionately affect men
Lack of parental choice once a child is conceived
No resources for male victims of Domestic Violence
The list goes on with the issues that are heartbreaking if you are the victim or if your near and dear someone who is the victim of any one of these issues. These are some of the men’s issues and most people are not even aware of it, leave aside naming one!
Our so-called patriarchal society too that very safely presume that men have all the rights, power and privilege, very conveniently ignore the issues that need to be acknowledged and addressed by the government!