Stakeholders urge men to be more active in their communities

In honour of International Men’s Day, which is celebrated on November 19, the Women and Gender Equality Commission teamed up with the Male Empowerment Network (MEN) to host a conference at the Regency Suites Hotel in Georgetown to help participants become more responsible in their community and family.

Chairperson of the Women and Gender Equality Commission Indranie Chandarpal told the News Room the Commission works with all groups in society and not just women, as is popularly believed.

As such, they helped organise this event.

Chandarpal observed how religion and philosophers contribute to the problem that exist in society regarding men.

“There are some religions that do not want to give women a prominent place. And then the philosophers who have written about philosophy, they don’t ever speak about women,” she said.

“So we have to change what is taking place. And when we talk about human rights, every human has a right. It’s not about a man, or woman or whoever, everybody has a right,” she added.

Founder of MEN, Richard Collymore said the conference would have helped the men see the importance of remaining focused on the simple things that fall within their responsibility.

Collymore urged that men should stay true to the values they were taught.

“If we work on blocking the noise, focusing on the simple things – being present in your family life, being present for the persons who need you, being that provider for your relative – remain focused on the simple things and not try to cloud it with societal judgement, then things would be a whole lot easier.”

He said the conference was meant to increase awareness among another group of men who will go back into their communities with more positive values and create some amount of positive impact.

The facilitators for this event were Psychologist, Shane Tull; Family and Sexual and Reproductive Health Specialist, Dr. Tariq Jagnarine; Collymore, and Rohan Singh from the Air of Living.