Why are men left out in political manifestos?
Majority of people who are committing suicide are men.
What you need to know:
- To many candidates seeking political office, it seems that men have it all figured out.
- It seems like men do not need some form of – for lack of better words – “special attention”.
I recently saw a political campaign poster in a matatu, which got me thinking. In this poster, the candidate for Member of County Assembly (MCA) had a three-point agenda. One; water and sanitation. Two; health and security. And three; women and youth empowerment.
A penny for your thoughts; what’s missing? Is that discrimination against men, or is it just an oversight? You tell me.
I believe this candidate has done his research well. He has good intentions. I trust that he knows what is happening on the ground. But, to me, he left – not only a big segment of the electorate – but also of issues, by not saying anything about men. Because? Men, too, have issues.
This is not an isolated case. A majority, if not all, candidates seeking political office have left men out in their manifestos.
I know many candidates are trying to follow the popular route. They are doing what will sell them to the electorate. To many, it seems that men have it all figured out. It seems like men do not need some form of – for lack of better words – “special attention” because, after all, majority of people in power are men. But we know that, in the power equation, this does not mean that men are in a better position.
Committing suicide
I liken it to a “twisted” see-saw; the one per cent of men with power and privilege, have so much weight that’s lifting the 99 per cent off the ground, keeping them suspended off resources. The 99 per cent isn’t having a time of their lives, but 99 problems.
You just need to walk around any neighbourhood to see that men have special needs. Statistics don’t lie. Majority of people who are committing suicide are men. Majority of homeless people are men. Majority of people who suffer from substance and alcohol abuse are men. Majority of persons who are behind bars are men.
Come to think of it, I have not heard one single politician talk about the issues I have mentioned above. And there are scores of issues that are facing men, which, if proactively tackled by legislators, would make this nation better for all.
A couple of months ago, while buying vegetables at my local grocery, I overheard them talking about a young man who was working at Huduma Centre, but was laid off because of Covid-19. He took to drinking cheap liquor, stopped caring about his personal appearance, and would sometimes help the grocer to ferry goods from the bus stop to the grocer’s shop. The young man used the money he got from such errands to “kill his sorrow”, not knowing that he was slowly killing himself.
Men are dying slowly
“Last night he came and sat on this bench,” the grocer narrated. “He was emaciated, and said his stomach was aching. He asked to use the toilet in the church, which is behind my shop. I took one look at him and knew this guy was ‘going’.”
This young man died that night, in the most gruesome of places; a toilet. That’s where political candidates have put men; in a place where filth is discarded and flushed. In a place where nobody wants to go to spend quality time. And this is happening all across our country. Men are dying slowly as we watch. They are dying while singing in support of political candidates who have nothing to offer them; and have even shown them this fact in their manifestos.
Men, how blind can we be? There’s nothing wrong with supporting candidates who have an agenda to right different wrongs in society. It’s noble to support causes we are passionate about. But men are also ailing.
Hey, Politician; what’s in it for me as a fourty-something year-old man? Just hand-to-mouth doles, and no leg-ups? A cheap t-shirt and cap? If that’s all you’ve got for me, I’ll pass. Next?
