For people who have been feeling that women have been getting too much attention and recognition lately, do not fear as Pakistan’s first ever Men Awards are here. Yes, you’ve read that correctly. Bold, Pakistan’s first gas free body spray, is celebrating ‘men’ by hosting an entire awards ceremony and we couldn’t help but sit up and wonder.
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The Bold Men Awards is an initiative to celebrate men who make Pakistan proud, establishing the only platform to exclusively honour men.
For people who have been feeling that women have been getting too much attention and recognition lately, do not fear as Pakistan’s first ever Men Awards are here. Yes, you’ve read that correctly. Bold, Pakistan’s first gas free body spray, is celebrating ‘men’ by hosting an entire awards ceremony and we couldn’t help but sit up and wonder.
According to a press release, “The Bold Men Awards is an initiative to celebrate all men who make Pakistan proud.” The awards also aim to establish the only platform to exclusively honour men working in various fields like sports, news, comedy and other unsung categories. So far so good; we’re thinking GQ Men of the Year Awards.
Hasan Rizvi, CEO Bodybeat Events & PR, shared his thoughts. “I’m so proud to be involved in the conceptualisation of Pakistan’s first Men Awards,” he said, which was fine had he stopped there. But then he proceeded to (unbelievably) say, “We have been recognising women a lot on media lately and while it is important to empower women, it is no excuse to ignore the rest half of population who are serving the country in various fields. Bold has taken a great initiative to show support for the talented men of our society.”
This is where we inhale and then exhale.
Can we please take a moment to understand why the concept of ‘Men Awards’ is unnecessary in a patriarchal country like ours? The reason why women have separate awards is because when a woman achieves anything in our very patriarchal society, it is indeed considered an accomplishment no less revolutionary than landing on the moon.
To be able to compete with men in Pakistan is indeed a privilege that isn’t given to a lot of women (since they are sexually harassed on the streets and in the workplace, aren’t allowed education, or given equal pay, or allowed out of their homes and beaten up by their husbands and fathers for not listening to the men of the family. You know, boring stuff like that.) We won’t even discuss the extreme measures faced by women, such as rape, Karo Kari, and acid throwing on women wanting to make their own decisions. We live in a country where a woman like Qandeel Baloch was murdered for being frivolous and daring when so many men, such as corrupt politicians or religious extremists, who think that lightly beating a wife is allowed in Islam, get away with all their crimes.
In a country that is controlled and ruled exclusively by men, the need to have a ceremony celebrating them even more appears excessive. It also seems like a case of bad branding. Couldn’t the team behind these awards have come up with a better name? It sounds as though men are being awarded for simply being men. It could have included the word ‘recognition of talent’ or something, instead of just blatantly calling it ‘Men Awards.’
We do hope that the title is misleading and the actual event will, in fact, put men with huge achievements on the mantel; we’d like to see men applauded for their philanthropic work, achievements in art, science and literature. We also wouldn’t mind men being acknowledged for awards like Husband of the Year or Brother of the Year, which would at least be inspirational and rare compared to professional accolades. It’s just a thought.
