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Gender equality: he and she become us
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WHEN Wang Chichi filmed the fathers of mentally handicapped children, nearly all of them admitted — with tears of gratitude — that their wives bear most of the brunt of challenges related to caring for the disabled.
“Man can be emotional because they are, after all, human,” said Wang. “I found it touching that they were willing to admit that mothers often contribute more to family life than fathers.”
The videos were part of a HeforShe event held at a special education school last weekend.
Wang is the initiator of Hangzhou HeforShe, part of a campaign organized by the United Nations to encourage men and women around the world to stand together to create a bold, visible force for gender equality.
“Both men and women should feel free to be sensitive,” Want said. “It is time that we regard both genders as one instead of two opposing forces. We should stop defining each other by what we are not and start defining ourselves by who we are.”
In September 2014, the actress Emma Watson gave speech on behalf of the HeforShe campaign as part of her role as a UN Goodwill Ambassador. Thousands of miles away in Hangzhou, Wang saw the speech via the Internet and felt energized.
“It was like a message to me personally, and I had to act,” she said. “HeforShe is another angle of feminism, along with individual liberty and social equality.”
Wang works as marketing director at the Hangzhou International Exchange and Service Center and chaired the Chinese Students and Scholars Association while studying at the University of British Columbia in Canada.
By 2015, the self-avowed feminist opened a Hangzhou chapter of HeforShe.
At the event last weekend at Yanglingzi School for special children in Hangzhou, fathers were invited to play with the kids, while mothers attended yoga and dancing classes. Parents were also invited to group discussions about education for the mentally retarded.
“The fathers of our students don’t visit our school a lot. Mostly it’s the mothers,” principal Yu Linya said. “It is common in families with special children for their fathers to work and the mothers to quit jobs to stay home and take care of the family.”
HeforShe’s goal is to recruit men and even boys as agents of change in the fight for gender equality and women’s rights.
The campaign encourages women to be themselves and not try to imitate others.
“In large cities in China, women are advancing faster than men, and men are sometimes reluctant to admit that,” said Luo Wei, director of the International Exchange and Service Center.
“But woman’s rights are human rights,” he added. “In the global trend, Hangzhou should have its voice heard. It’s time for men to change.”
The HeforShe campaign has organized a dozen events in Hangzhou in the past year, including bicycling events, jogging activities, concerts and symposiums.
More information on the organization is available on heforshe.org. People interested in becoming a volunteer can email events@hzguojiao.com.
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