Re: Gender depowerment: UNDP data on male and female suicide in theworld

On Thu, 22 Feb 2001, g kohler wrote:

> interesting that male suicide rates tend to be higher than female rates. The 
>average female readiness for self-destruction is thus lower than the average 
>male readiness.
> 
> ADD to this that  males have a higher tendency to be violent toward others 
>and/or more criminal than females. (The Canadian prison population is about 
>90% male and 10% female.)
> 
> Females thus have a lower proclivity toward both destruction and 
>self-destruction than males. The world-system would be improved, if men did 
>the cooking and women the governing, sort of like Lenin [socialist] or Bush 
>[capitalist] as chefs (cooking spaghetti dinners) and Vandana Shiva 
>[socialist] or Madonna [capitalist] as presidents.
> 
> gk

Please see the special report prepared by the UNDP on the so called
transition countries at http://www.undp.sk/download/RegHDR99/RegHDR99.zip
Apart from suicide rates and acts of violence committed on others males in
these countries are also more prone to diseases which had practically been
wiped out such as tuberculosis, as well as stress and hypertension elated
disorders. The result is that mortality and morbidity rates for all age
groups are much higher for males, resulting in lower life expectancy
rates.
A related issue of relevance for this list is teh crisis of masculinity
thesis which seeks to study the impact of globalization for men. In
countries like India, Bangladesh, as well as in UK, scholars such as Naila
Kabeer for instance has shown, that declining opportunities for men has
been corresponding with increasing jobs for women especially in export
oriented sectors such as the agrment sector, albeit in sweat shop like
conditions, or in the low wage, insecure unorganized sectors. The sudden
loss of power, jobs, earning capacity, and independence have made men more
prone to destructive and self destructive behaviour.

D.Parthasarathy
Assistant Professor
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
Indian Institute of Technology, Powai
Mumbai, 400076, India
Phone: 091 022 576 7372 (off)
       091 022 576 8372 (res)
Fax:   091 022 572 3480
email: dp@hss.iitb.ernet.in

please visit our Department website at http://www.iitb.ernet.in/~hss