Meri Mirror August 2022

MERI MIRROR
Men and the pressure to be a
financial success
By - Reet Kaur
BAJMC/Sem-2nd
When we hear the word “patriarchy,”
the first thing that comes to
mind is a social issue involving
women. Women, no doubt, face more challenges,
but men are taught since childhood
that they must be financially successful or
else they will be unable to feed their families.
It is always assumed that the man will be
the bread earner of the family and should earn
more than his wife. We can take the example
of the current movie of Varun Dhawan which
is “Jug Jug Jeeyo” where he was told to be
financially successful but was unable to do so.
The movie is a great example for today’s society
to understand. The norms established by
society are extremes for both men and women.
Various reports and studies indicate that
the major cause of anxiety, depression, and
mental stress among men is extremely high expectations
from life. We see many young boys
commit suicide because they failed to achieve
success in school or in finding job opportuni-
ties. This explains to us that boys suffer, but do we
acknowledge their suffering? As we have begun
to recognize women’s suffering. Every young
boy you see is told to work hard and be successful,
but he is not taught how to deal with it.
But we need to understand that men also
have emotions they are also human beings.
On one hand, there are high expectations, and
on the other hand, they can’t honestly explain
what they are going through. This only leads to
a lonely life in which they don’t want to talk to
anyone because everything they feel is judged.
Our society needs to normalize the idea that
men suffer as a result of unrealistic expectations.
Second, the idea that men can become
depressed or anxious as a result of societal
pressures must be addressed by talking to their
friends or partners about their problems and
sharing the burden. Yes, women face far more
than men, but for society to be equal, both must
be respected and cared for as human beings.
VOL - 3 || Issue - 6 / 10