CHENNAI: The Draft National Policy for Women seems to have whipped up quite a storm among the male populace since it was released in the public domain.
Calling it everything from ‘an acid attack on men’ to a route to have ‘boys disappear like dinosaurs’ — messages showing the disapproval of the opposite sex toward the policy have been flooding the government website, where the draft document has been placed for feedback, more heavily than the 2015 Chennai deluge. The draft, which was released a few days ago in order to obtain suggestions and feedback before the final report is made, has ironically received more submissions from men than women — by an overwhelming two-thirds. Unsurprisingly, much of the flak was directed toward The Ministry of Women and Child Development, which had drafted the proposal. “We have a ministry for women, children and even animals,” mused Nikhil Dwivedi. “Why do we not have one for men?”
Humour aside, a majority of men seemed seriously perturbed over the proposal for at least 50 per cent reservation for women in local governing bodies.
One man even put forth a quick mathematical calculation in his comment to demonstrate the inequality in representation, should this come into being.
“Fifty per cent of reservation for women in local body elections means the percentage of elected women in local bodies will be between 50 per cent and 100 per cent,” Sathyaselvan reasoned. In other words, he went on, “Men will have only 0 per cent to 50 per cent. There is a probability of
0 per cent place for men in local bodies. This policy will leave no room for men to exist,” he wrote on the government’s website.
The forum also saw a flood of complaints from men over the misuse of IPC Section 498A that criminalises subjecting women to cruelty, with some even demanding that the law be repealed as it was misused as a tool for extortion. A man called Raj wrote, “A policy should be for the uplift of people, and not to give one gender undue advantage over another, thereby leading to an increase in crimes.” Others called it a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Even the health and wellness section of the draft offered no respite. With reference being made to ‘male sterilisation’ instead of female sterilisation as a shift of focus for family planning, one distraught gent suggested that the agenda was funded by the sperm bank industry. “Looks like this priority area is funded by artificial insemination and sperm bank industry. Please share the details of funds received by the Ministry of WCD from this corporate vertical,” said Ritwik Bisaria, coordinator of Save Family Foundation.
But guys, take heart. If you look closely enough, there are some women out there who, in contrast to feminists, have put on the mantle of supporting men’s rights, like a woman who said, “If these laws keep on harassing men and are misused, then, sooner than later, there will be an uprising against women. And men will take law into their hands.”