The Oxford English Dictionary defines gender as the state of being male or female, with reference to social and cultural differences. As UB's fourth annual Gender Week comes to a close, the question that needs to be asked is why Gender Week is geared exclusively towards females and homosexuals. Are there no pressing gender issues affecting heterosexual males that could be addressed?
Gender Week began four years ago when English professor Barbara Bono organized a range of activates to bring about a better understanding of gender roles and relationships in a college environment, and to showcase women's roles in an array of fields. Topics have ranged from healthcare, engineering, architecture, journalism, writing and science while focusing on women's contributions within those fields. According to UB's Gender Institute, this year's stated goal is to supply insights into the range of disciplines in matters of gender and sexuality. This is an admirable mission, but isn't it counterintuitive to exclude straight men?
Since most events center on issues pertaining to females, a simple solution would be to call the annual activities Women's Week instead. The term" Gender Week" is somewhat ambiguous and misleading in connection to what's presented each year. By calling it Women's Week, it would be a celebration of females and it could become an even bigger event on campus. Forget about sexuality; give it its own week. Focusing the allotted time strictly on women's issues would bring the event into better focus, and convey more clearly what organizers are trying to get across.
Another title could be Feminist Week. Feminism, condensed to its essence, is about equality. That is why issues of sexuality are included during Gender Week, which is appropriate, but the exclusion of activities pertaining to straight males is not. The negative connotation surrounding feminism is unfortunate, but a week's worth of activities dedicated to its cause might alleviate some of the confusion, and even create more feminists in the process.
Yes, men earn more than women in the workplace, and yes, women's representation amongst CEO's and other elite positions in our society is dismal. There is no denying that the "pink-collar ghetto," where women are still pigeonholed in secretarial and lower level "women's work," is alive and well. But by ignoring a whole segment of gender within UB's community, women aren't advancing themselves at all.
Men are commonly seen as dominant, and because of the history of their place in society, they don't need a "week" to themselves. That may be true, but Gender Week needs to address issues to which straight men can relate. Discussions on men and fatherhood, sensitivity seminars on communication with women or dealing with homophobia would be effective. It would bring more people into the activities and, by including straight men in the discussion, would make them more empathic to women, homosexuals and transgendered individuals.
It's still a man's world out there and women have a long way to go. But ignoring a whole segment of gender is what happened to women in the first place. Excluding men is just as sexist as limiting women.
