Barkha Trehan: The Dauntless Voice Of Men's Rights |
Posted: April 21, 2023 |
“Men have emotions too; they also need support, but how many of us actually care?” These words of Barkha Trehan compelled us to think: Do we really think about the social rights of men? Why do we often forget about the issues related to our male counterparts? Taking a much-needed step towards gender equality, Barkha Trehan, India’s first men’s rights activist, discards all gender-specific prejudice and stereotypes. Raising her dauntless voice, she takes the cause of men’s rights to the masses and makes it a mass movement. She advocates for the protection of males against abuse, male empowerment, and the legitimate rights of male victims. Building a gender-neutral society, Barkha institutes India’s first and only International Men’s Day celebrations. Upholding the flag of social justice, she laid the foundation of Purush Aayog, the National Commission for Men, a civil society organization. Her YouTube show #MenKiBaat demands justice for men. She also directed and produced a documentary film, “The Curse of Manhood,” which represents the unheard cries for justice of Indian men. In an exclusive conversation, Barkha Trehan sheds light on her journey as India’s first men’s rights activist. Tell us about yourself and your organisation Purush Aayog.I am an entrepreneur and social activist. Well supported by my husband and kids, I have an outgoing personality. I have always fought against injustice and am not afraid to swim against the tide. When the outcry was about women’s victimization, I realized the scenarios in which a woman faces discrimination and men are marginalized even more. When women face violence, they are well protected by law, but men do not have the same liberty. Husbands are punished for cruelty against their wives, but if husbands face cruelty, they have no respite. On the contrary, I found that men do not have a forum to be heard. Therefore, I decided to provide a platform for men where they could be heard equivocally without being judged. Why do you think that there is a lack of awareness about men’s rights in our society?Indian society is traditionally considered a patriarchal society; however, it’s balanced; men and women play their roles to maintain social harmony. However, because of solely following patriarchy as a philosophy in changing times where there are role reversals of both men and women in changing socio-political situations, men are suffering at the hands of women, but the same is not considered in the guise of empowerment. Legal bias and imbalance further strengthen women’s situation, and men are left to prejudice.
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