International Men’s Day 2020 is observed annually on November 19, to create awareness about men’s health and to promote gender equality. The International Men’s day theme for 2020 is “Better health for men and boys.”
A brief published by UNICEF (2019) on Engaging South African Fathers highlights the importance of fatherhood and the presence of positive male role models by stating “Engaged, responsive fatherhood and men’s participation in the lives of children are positive for children, women and men themselves.”
The White Paper for Social Welfare also highlights the family as the basic unit of society and advocates for the promotion of family life through the strengthening of family-oriented policies and programmes.
In observance of International Men’s Day, the Western Cape Minister of Social Development, Sharna Fernandez, said, “ I am calling on all our men to step up to the challenge of being positive role models for all the young men and boys living in and around your community and at your places of work.
The vicious cycle of patriarchy in South African society stands a far greater chance of being broken, if we focus our efforts on changing the role of young boys and men.”
The provincial Department of Social Development (DSD), with the support of its partners, provides a wide array of programmes focused on improving the role men can play for their families.
These programmes include amongst others:
- Parenting and caregiving skills to parents to improve their ability to provide proper care and support to their children and;
- Fatherhood education and training programmes that promote family involvement and the importance of being a positive male role model.
“Together, we can challenge the destructive and outdated expectations around manhood that not only destructive for boys and men themselves, but are also counterproductive to building a better society,” concluded Minister Fernandez.
