ARAB men feel sad and envious of women because March 8 is International Women's Day while there is no such day for Arab men. The United Nations decided in 1977, over four decades ago, to set aside a day for women that the entire world would celebrate. So far, there is no International Men's Day in the Arab world. Trinidad and Tobago, the dual-island Caribbean nation near Venezuela, celebrated an International Men's Day on 19 November 1999, but not a single global media outlet covered the event, let alone knew about it. Later Australia, the US and Canada celebrated the day and others countries followed suit, except in the Arab world. International Men's Day sheds light on men's contributions and their positive role in building society. It seeks to enhance gender equality and the values of sharing among all segments of society. On International Women's Day events are always given more attention on the global level and different activities are held on the same day while International Men's Day, which is November 19, is barely noticed or given any attention. In fact, many global institutions and organizations do not support this event. Of course, many men feel that it is an injustice that their day is not celebrated with as much fervor as the day that honors women. Some even think that they have been deprived of their rights and demand equality with women. Speaking of important events that we should celebrate in our life, I wonder why many of us do not even celebrate joyous events like birthdays, marriage anniversaries, etc. Do men not like celebrations? Furthermore, when a woman was asked why men did not need an international day, she said because men have all the days of the year.
