Today is International Men's Day..

Today is International Men's Day.. well atleast that 's what this morning's Times Paper mentioned.. Now I'm a completely throughbred feminist.. and love all the attention poured on us on Women's day, Mother's day, Friendship Day and not to mention Valentine's day.. In all these years however it never ocurred to me about not having a Men's Day or any specific celebration related to Men.So it came quite as a surprise to me to learn that there is after all a Men's day.

The celebration of various " Day "s  or a need to have these xyz Days  is a much debated topic. Some take the view that it is absolutely unneccesary as it is  that Mother's are remembered only on Mother's Day or proposals can be made only on Valentine's day. While others believe that is is good to have a certain day becuase then people remember to make the life of someone you love special.

On reading that it is Men's Day today, I wondered if the whole thing is a marketing gimmick. There are no big billboards announcing this as in Women's day, no related cultural events taking place this week, no shopping coupons in malls and absolutely no advertisements related to how much men contribute to this world. May be Women, Mother, Friendship & Love are all aspects where people splurge to keep the women in their lives happy and these things strike an emotional cord with the fairer sex. Women generally love the small tokens of appreciation from family & friends and just make them feel more special.

Or is it that it is difficult for men or the society to come out and celebrate a Men's day becuase of the negative image that may potray especially in the light of today's feminist society. Now is the age of reservation for women, from parliament, to many office postings, train coaches and what not. Marketing companies may feel that celebrating Men's day may not go very well with their brand image..

History says that International Women's day ( IWD )  has its roots in the garment factory workers' strike in 1857 on poor working conditions which then began as a start of a long fight against equal rights for women.Though IWD was initiated as a class war,  it soon took the shape of a gender war and then finally something like a liberation day or a day to make women feel special..

However International Men's day (IMD) has a much more recent origin.It was conceived by Dr. Jerome Teelucksingh in 1999 as a forum to promote a positive role of men in the society.

Is this a start for another gender discrimination but in the other way, would there be a time when Men would feel oppressed..its hard to believe that something like that could ever happen.. either way, I think women have pretty large hearts and can definetly accomodate a Men's Day celebration... See that's the feminist in me speaking :)