IN the Western and even in the Islamic World, in the 19th and 20th centuries, society became increasingly conscious of women’s oppression and discrimination. Women were kept out of the power structure: they could not vote, could not serve in parliaments or in government service; they were paid less for doing the same jobs as men; they were denied Education; the professions were accordingly closed to them; and they were often subjected to violence and could have no protection or redress from anyone.

As life became more civilised, it was realised that the ill-treatment of and discrimination against women retarded society and ultimately negatively affected everyone. It was also realised that if women were engaged in the world of work, society became more prosperous and women were efficient and often outperformed men.

By the beginning of the 20th century, in almost all countries, women were freed of all their disabilities and given full legal protection. And though there were still a few areas of discrimination against women, women were now found in every field of activity, outperforming and sometimes outnumbering men in academic performance and other spheres. All welcomed this freedom of women but then it took a sudden and unexpected turn.

It was discovered that men, especially in the developed countries, were becoming demoralised to a greater or lesser degree; they began to opt out of society, becoming drug addicts, leaving the workforce or having low productivity, becoming less ambitious than formerly to qualify themselves in the various trades and professions, In the schools, boys were doing less well than girls; many males did not attend school or dropped out, even at University levels.

Men began to care less for their families, often abdicating the role of breadwinner and engaging in domestic violence against wives and children, sometimes even murdering them.

In the developed countries, as mentioned above, there is far more awareness of the malady and there is a growing corpus of research and efforts are being made to address it. In Guyana, President Dr Irfaan Ali is one of the very few who is thoroughly seized of the problem and despite an extraordinarily busy schedule, he was able, last October, to establish a kind of guild known as Men on Mission (MoM) to begin to address the issue. His pioneering initiative is timely.
In establishing MoM, President Ali remarked that it was done “to tackle toxic masculinity and create a positive environment and safe space for men, promoting integrity, productivity and accountability and character building.” He then went on: “We men are now the root cause of many problems in society. It is now our time to be the root or solution; to be the root of positivity, to be the root that makes a difference, to be our root that builds a support system.” The core membership of MoM were personnel of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and it is expected that this core will be extended to include men of every background with chapters in other parts of the country.

MoM has been involved in a number of activities: They have rebuilt the houses of poor persons which had been destroyed by fire and constructed new houses to replace the shacks many of the very aged were inhabiting. They have been beautifying the environment by rebuilding broken-down fences, painting modest homes and planting flowers.

MoM has begun to work with boys and also girls to get them back to school and the learning environment and this necessitates coaching, mentoring and being in contact with parents. It has so far organised one regional boys camp to train 500 boys in a variety of skills so that they will grow up into socialised persons.

Men are poorly represented in the Teaching and Nursing professions and this could be mainly attributed to stereotyped gender roles. Efforts are being made to have more men inducted into these professions since such would be both a morale builder for men and would have long-term social benefits.

To exorcise any underground resentment against women, MoM has been extending its activities as far as possible to underscore that men and women are equal or are even complementary. This was exemplified at International Women’s Day 2023 when MoM together with the Guyana Police Force and some Regional Democratic Councils, hosted luncheons for women across the country.
MoM is an imaginative attempt at pre-empting the neutralisation of a social ailment before it becomes endemic.