The growth of men and women should occur in harmony, says business executive Shafia London.
London, who is the Country Manager of the St Vincent Brewery limited, in an interview on WE FM’s Activated Mornings Program prior to today’s International Women’s Day celebration made this point.
She emphasized the importance of the encouragement and empowerment of men as well as women, so that they can adequately provide support to the women in their lives.
“I’m very worried about what’s happening to our men and I’m very worried that what’s happening to our men will actually contribute more to women having to make sacrifices in the long term. Because if we are not supporting men to be better fathers, to be better caregivers in the home, to be better supporters of their women, relationships would suffer, and then you are going to have more and more women finding themselves with children, for example, having to raise those children on their own and when you have to that and you are in the workplace it becomes more difficult to succeed in the workplace because you now have to think about the home a lot more than you should have if there was a partner to support you.
So as we talk about women, again, I have a soft spot, I guess, because I have two boys, we have to ensure that the success of women is at the same time, congruent, with the success of men. Men need to be empowered too, to support us in the family, to support in the home so that women don’t have to make that sacrifice,” London said.
London said that by allowing men to fall by the wayside, that in turn puts more pressure on women. She said there must be encouragement for men to be more active in the home and workplace, and called for the removal of the stigma attached men doing more in the home.
“We have to encourage our men, we have to empower our men as well to participate actively in the home, as well as in the workplace. We need to remove the stigma that a man shouldn’t take care of his home. We need to celebrate the men who like family, who support family, who are also willing to sacrifice. In some households, modern households I would call them, the man chooses to be the one that gives more to the family in terms of staying home and helping the kids; in our society in St. Vincent I think that might actually be mocked, but why? Why, if a human being decides this is the right path and the other being his partner decides this is the path for their passion—why should we mock that?” London said.
International Women’s Day is celebrated annually on March 8 as a focal point in the women’s rights movement. IWD gives focus to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against women.
