Basil Jarrett | Celebrate our women: Just don’t forget the boys

I WILL be the first to admit that I was not particularly enthusiastic about going to university after high school. I had enjoyed my time at Jamaica College (JC) and wished for at least another year to create more lifelong memories of carefree days eating patties under the ficus tree. JC held fond memories for me, like the time we got chased by a throng of Charlie Smith supporters after we drubbed them 2-0 at Sabina Park. I still laugh at that incident, even though my short life could have ended that fateful day. I never wanted to leave JC, and wept openly when I was being ushered out. Those tears lasted all of two summer months, however, as I entered The University of the West Indies (UWI) in September, only to discover that the UWI was not such a bad place after all. It had hall parties, a pool, no class on Thursdays…and girls. And boy, there were a lot of girls. By all accounts, the female to male ratio at Mona was about eight to one. I was like a kid in a big, wild, expansive candy store. My eyes dazzled at the splendour of the young ladies that decorated the campus.

READ THE FINE PRINT

One of these beauties I noticed was preparing a registration form, and I barely managed to make out that she was adding some class about studying women (or something like that). This was deadline day for registration, and so I immediately copied down the course code to add that class and drop the introduction to communications course. In any event, how bad could a course studying women be? The next week, I went to my first class and discovered that I had actually signed up for introduction to women’s studies (or something like that), but for some reason, the object of my desire was absent. This went on for about two more weeks before I realised that not only had I added a course where I was one of only two males in a class full of proud, strong, intelligent women, but the young lady was dropping, not adding the class. Imagine the horror.

For the rest of the semester, my relative immaturity in relating to these women meant that I was the physical embodiment of everything that was wrong with the average Jamaican male – sexist, shallow, narrow-minded and chauvinistic. It was not a good look. But after being cannon fodder and the object of their disdain for half the term, my male pride was finally provoked to the point where I said, “Enough, I refuse to be the butt of anyone’s joke anymore. I’m going to take this course seriously, dammit, and show these women that I can be just as progressive as they are.”

BALANCE THE THING

So I did just that. I read voraciously on Susan B. Anthony, Gloria Steinem and Angela Davis. I listened to Alanis Morissette, drank unsweetened chai tea, and used useless words such as ‘pedagogical’ and ‘perspicacity’. I was all in - I just didn’t go as far as the Birkenstocks. I was not going down without a fight. No sir. I then wrote what I considered to be a strong reflection of the state of gender affairs in Jamaica at the time, and blisteringly criticised what I saw as the road to perdition.

You see, you cannot correct an imbalance in society by counterbalancing to the opposite extreme. Our women were quite rightly breaking glass ceilings everywhere, and quite rightly ought to be recognised, encouraged and celebrated for it. The UWI, Mona, at the time, was a testament to the awesome power and ability of our women to redefine visions of what the Jamaican woman could be, if given the same opportunity as our men.

Like my add-drop form, they had grabbed that opportunity with both hands and were heading for the hills. Today, almost 30 years later, Jamaica boasts the highest proportion of female managers in the world, whereas their counterparts from across the globe continue to be under-represented at senior management levels, even though they outnumber men in higher-education institutions. We’ve even had a female prime minister since those heady days.

But my paper also held a warning that as we unshackle the enormous potential of our women, we must guard against the temptation to do so while shackling our men. You see, you cannot fix an imbalance against one section of society by creating an imbalance against another; and if we overcompensated too much in addressing this inequity, a myriad of unintended, undesirable effects could emerge.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE COWBOYS GONE?

The most obvious was that we would create a vacuum for smart, ambitious, well-educated men in society, resulting in a host of socio-cultural ills. My professor nodded in agreement. I had her blessing. I then pointed out the need to ensure that as we promote and empower our women, we must also ensure that we do not leave our boys behind, as some could very well end up being a bane to society later on. She gave me another nod of approval. I had her in the palm of my hand. What happened next was the most sudden turn of events I have ever encountered in an academic setting. Her ebony face turned bright red when I suggested that the same smart, ambitious, well-educated women are going to one day need equally smart, ambitious, well-educated men to marry and start balanced families.

“Mr Jarrett!!!” she thundered. “You are the epitome of everything that’s wrong with men today. After all the work we’ve done to rehabilitate you this semester, how dare you stand before us and suggest that a woman’s highest station in life is to find a man to marry?”

I was perplexed. What went wrong? How could I have been so misunderstood? But considering the sexist pretext under which I ended up in the class in the first place, I thought it best not to say anything. But quietly, I held my ground. Strong families, with both active parents, are the foundation of any strong society. And in creating opportunities for our women to advance, we must be deliberate in ensuring that we also adjust accordingly to prevent our boys from falling behind. If not, then we will have to deal with the societal ills of crime and violence that plague us today.

Now, wait. Before you pull out your pitchforks and burn me in effigy, I am by no means blaming the advancement of our women for society’s woes today. Absolutely not. But a greater effort must be made to address the continued underperformance and under-representation of our boys academically. We’ve known for years that our classroom teaching methods are more suited for girls than boys, yet we haven’t made any sort of adjustment pedagogically (wow, I actually found use for that word). Our boys need help. They need educational systems that support their preferred style of learning. They need strong, strict disciplinarians to keep them focused and driven. They also need reminders that they are valued members of society. To continue to ignore these glaring needs demonstrates a society that lacks care, concern, and, for want of a better word, perspicacity.

Major Basil Jarrett is a communications strategist and CEO of Artemis Consulting, a communications consulting firm specialising in crisis communications and reputation management. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.