Men pour their hearts out during live chat on women's issues

NEW DELHI: Male monopolies have been falling by the wayside but one domain was decidedly - and ironically - male-dominated today: a Facebook chat with Maneka Gandhi on issues related to women.

The interaction with the minister for women and child development (WCD) ran into a blizzard of questions on perceived persecution of men.

When Maneka took to the social network platform to interact with citizens, questions from those who identified themselves as fathers, mothers of sons, divorced men, husbands fighting false dowry cases and rights activists came flooding in.

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One of the first questions was asked by Nithyananda Nayak, who did not give any personal details on his FB profile.

"What is your action plan to stop fake cases (filed under)... 498A?" Nayak asked, referring to IPC Section 498A that deals with cruelty to married women and is invoked in dowry cases.

Manish Vaswani, who works in a Mumbai-based advertising agency, too, picked the same topic.

"What is the ministry doing to avoid the rampant misuse of one-sided gender-biased laws that are destroying innocent people's lives? All the present laws are for wives. What protection does a woman have as a sister-in-law? Manekaji, we need to open our eyes and have a broader perception. Millions of people's suffering can't be unheard," Vaswani wrote.

Maneka replied: "Law exists to penalise those misusing the provisions."

Several people who took part in the chat asked the minister why the definition of "child" in her ministry has been restricted only to "girls". (The child development part of the ministry is gender-neutral and is in charge of schemes for all children, not just girls. As adults, only women come under the domain of the ministry. However, since the ministry has education and training schemes meant for the girl child, an impression may have been created that it deals only with girls.)



"Madam, I have a son, I am very worried because of the new policy drafted by the WCD ministry, which is total injustice against boys, which will throw boys out of the education system and make it difficult for them to find jobs. Is this the way #ModiGovt bringing #AcheDin?" asked Barkha Trehan, a Delhi-based finance executive.

"Sorry to say but who will work for projects like #MakeInIndia, #TransformingIndia, #SwachhBharat? Do you want the new generation never to vote for such anti-men government? When there will be such injustice with boys, how will the nation progress? We boycott such government," she added.

Although the minister appeared stumped at the path the questions were taking and a cabinet meeting that required her attendance was round the corner, she managed to answer several questions.



Asked about the deluge of questions from or on men, Maneka told The Telegraph that she was "surprised" but she had not seen all the queries yet. "I am surprised and it's interesting that they are writing to me. I will try and answer them all tomorrow," she said.

A draft women's policy, which focuses on their rights and benefits and was released earlier this month by Maneka, came under intense scrutiny during the FB chat. The policy has enumerated ways to retain the girl child in school, improve access to pre-primary education and enrolment and retention of adolescent girls.

Several citizens asked the minister why the rights of boys have been neglected. "Madam, girls get all sorts of privileges right from birth. Why are such privileges not available to the male child? Does the WCD ministry consider only female child as the child in their development?" asked Mumbai-based Hardik Mehta.

Another wanted to know how her ministry was going to support boys to continue their education. Maneka replied: "Not under me!" (The human resource development ministry is expected to monitor and curb the overall dropout rate, though the WCD ministry has a similar scheme for girls.)

Another aspect which appears to have raised the hackles of some is the policy's perceived slant towards the reproductive rights of women and an attempt to shift the focus of family planning efforts from female sterilisation to male sterilisation.

"Mam, the draft has a suggestion that to recognise reproductive rights of women, male sterilisation will be done. But men do not come under the purview of the WCD. Then how come the WCD is taking a decision on sterilising men? Is this not infringement on the reproductive rights of males in India? Why should men agree to this?" asked Sourav Singh of Pune.

Maneka replied: "The draft policy, once finalised, will be worked with other related ministries in implementation. If you have suggestions, you can write in before 25th June." Officials said the minister meant consultations among various ministries.

Men's rights activists pleaded with Maneka to ensure that children have access to both biological parents in the case of a divorce. "As child development minister, what are your efforts to ensure a child's right is fulfilled by having access to both biological parents? Is shared parenting on your agenda? Or is it not being pursued at all?" asked rights activist Amit Deshpande.

Another proponent of shared parenting under which both parents take turns at bringing up children quoted a report of the law commission recommending such a measure.

"Could you please use your good offices with the ministry of justice to make it law? Children deserve both parents even if marriage breaks down," Deshpande said.

In India, there is no bar on fathers being given custody of a child in case of a divorce but there is no concept of shared parenting in law.

By the end of the day, a recurring grouse was why the government didn't have a "ministry of men".

"Madam, 80 per cent taxpayers are men. But there is no Ministry for Men till date. Ideally you should consider yourself as Moral Owner of Males Ministry too. By suppressing one gender, you cannot get growth of other gender. Can you propose to replace all Husband/Wife in law with "Spouse" to make all laws as #GenderNeutral as #CrimeHasNoGender. Please punish crime, not gender," wrote Dev Sonar.

-The Telegraph Calcutta