Where are all the men?

Today is apparently International Men’s Day, but you wouldn’t know it. I was shocked this morning to find very little airtime given to it in the media. A handful of Linkedin posts, mainly from women strangely enough! Evidence that unfortunately, whilst women are making waves in the battle for equality, men simply aren’t feeling that they can speak up and celebrate themselves.

So I ask you, in a world where women have a voice and aren’t afraid to use it, where are all the men? Men that are innovative, driven and successful as well as being present at home. For me, they are the men worth celebrating. So today and every other day, I think it’s important to celebrate the men amongst us (and the women!) that are absolutely killing it at life.

It’s not lost on me how blessed I am to be currently working in a place of equality, where the wellbeing of both men and women is of equal importance. I feel valued as a person, respected as a professional and I am in the company of people that celebrate the fact that I am a working mother rather than frown upon it. I receive the same level of opportunities as my male colleagues.

One such colleague is Lewis Haydon and he is an example of a man that should be celebrated. He is running a great business, coaching clients to better their lives, studying a Doctorate in Business Psychology and earlier this year became a father for the first time. He is a positive, disciplined, kind hearted and intelligent human being.

It’s refreshing to feel that my opinion is as valid and as heard as his and that is mostly down to my boss, Andy Hemming. I am working for a man that is worthy of more respect than he’d care to admit. He leads the team fantastically, coaches clients to be the best that they can be, runs an incredibly successful business but at the same time, is an absolutely wonderful father to his two boys. At the end of the day, he brings home the bacon for them, to give them the opportunities he never had.

What’s key is to recognise that men feel pressure as equally as women. I know this because I see it in my husband. He has given everything to his job this year but he has also given his all to the children and I. He swings between a stressful working environment and chaotic home life. He is hosting zoom meetings, making difficult decisions and running a team, all whilst reading bedtime stories, playing superheroes and cooking a family meal. He supported me when I changed careers this Spring and pushed me to follow my heart.

So, to the men in our lives that make it possible for us to be everything we can be, we thank you. Know that women see showing emotion as a strength, not a weakness. Being open about your struggles doesn’t make you less of a man, it makes you more of one.

We see you. We see how hard you’re trying. We see how hard you work to provide for your families. We see the little moments you have with your children. We see you for the men that you are.