Thursday 19
th November marks International Men’s Day in the UK, celebrating the positive value men bring to the world, their families and communities. This year’s theme is “Better health for men and boys.”
The three core themes for International Men’s Day in the UK are:
- Making a positive difference to the wellbeing and lives of men and boys
- Raising awareness and/or funds for charities supporting men and boys’ wellbeing
- Promoting a positive conversation about men, manhood and masculinity
This year has been extremely tough for everyone and research has unfortunately shown that males are more likely to die by suicide three to four times more often than women. The impact of the pandemic is taking a huge toll on people’s mental wellbeing and has exacerbated known risk factors for vulnerable people. International Men’s Day encourages men and boys to be open about issues they may be facing and to seek help and advice before reaching crisis point.
In addition, the organisation encourages men to teach the boys in their lives the values, character, and responsibilities of being a man. Mr Franks, History Teacher at King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Girls comments “an inspirational quote I would like to pass on to the next generation of young men would be ‘treat women with respect, remember, your Mom is a woman’.”
Promoting positive role models is an important theme; it’s not just movie stars and sports men, but everyday working-class men who we encounter, whether it be friends, fathers, sons, uncles or neighbours!
Ms Morris, Librarian at King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Girls has taken the opportunity to highlight her Dad – a power station worker, working inside the cooling towers. “My Dad was a man who respected people and gave his all to his community despite his work demands and a large family. He promoted fair treatment at work at the expense of standing up to colleagues when necessary and taught his children to speak to others with courtesy, whilst giving all of them opportunities to develop as individuals.”
There are many ways in which you can celebrate International Men’s Day this year, from supporting a charity to raising awareness of the challenges faced by boys and men such as education, shorter life expectancy, being victims of violence and many more.
For more information on how you can get involved please visit
https://ukmensday.org.uk/
