Introducing... Masculinism

It was around 2200 hrs on September 22nd, when I disembarked at the King Fahd International Airport in Saudi Arabia only to realize that the following day was the sole holiday in the kingdom and that majority of the airport staff had decided to make the most of the rare long weekend and were on leave. There were only three immigration officers to cater to some 500 passengers and the consequence was three awfully long queues. As if this was not enough, one of the senior officials suddenly realized that he had a moral duty to first serve the females and the families. They were asked to the front of the queues and the poor men were left stranded in the queues for a good hour and a half.

Not that I was entirely against this man’s decision (at least not until the third flight had landed) but this was in a country which is deemed by many as the most misogynistic place in the world; a place where gender discrimination is ubiquitous. This was yet another case of gender discrimination; but this time, it was the males who were the sufferers. This also reminded me of the several occasions when many big shopping malls in the kingdom declare a family day and according to an accepted definition, only a male who’s not accompanied by a female is not family while a lone female (spinster or otherwise) is a family all by herself. I call this “misoandry” which, I believe, is a lot more prevalent than misogyny. Misogyny is a very misleading term in my opinion. I mean, women have always been objects of fascination and love for men. This has been so since the times of Abel and Cain and will probably remain so forever. It’s the men who have to face the brunt of hatred and I have always been of the view that a lot needs to be done in countries like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to address this discrimination against males.

Okay, Saudi Arabia does have its fair share of instances where females are discriminated against but when you think of Pakistan, or at least the urban parts of Pakistan, there’s nothing that a woman in her right state of mind would want to do that she cannot while living in Pakistan. Women have as much rights as men and in addition to all these ‘equal’ rights, they have their own “for-females-only” rights as we’ll discuss further.

To start off, let’s consider a very “everyday” example. I, and most of my male compatriots, readily yield their seats on a public transport as soon as they see a female standing nearby. I’m sure Rosa Parks would strongly object to this practice of discrimination but we term this as ethics. Now, men are not forced to be gentlemen but if someone decides otherwise, it’s never taken well by the bystanders (or the bysitters) and we always have a few raised eyebrows as if the women have a right to every seat on the public transport system in Pakistan.

Now consider education, another famous forte for the feminists. Feminists have always argued that women don’t have an equal access to higher education. Many universities in Pakistan, especially the government universities, have a special quota for female students in addition to the open-merit based seats. There are a handful of other categories also, each having its own criterion, but none based on gender except the female quota. All other categories/quotas provide an equal opportunity for the males and the females to apply but on top of this, we have our very own female-only category giving them better chances of getting admitted to the university.

And when these females get into the universities, albeit in a smaller number than what the mathematical probability suggests, they have a relatively easier path to the degree as compared to their male counterparts. During my four years at the university, I never saw a girl flunk in a viva unless and until she herself was hell-bent on it. While the guys were judged on how much they knew about the electromagnetic theory, the ladies were judged on how well they had prepared (read dressed) themselves for the viva.

And when these women have breezed their way through the university and are looking for a job, you’ll always find them nagging that the job opportunities for females are scarcer as compared to those for males completely disregarding the notion that it’s the “fringe benefits” women want that deter any employer from employing them.

Jobs generally have certain requirements; some may require the employee to commute a lot while others may demand working in late shifts. Whenever a woman goes in for a job interview, she neither wants to work in late shifts nor does she