PHILADELPHIA MAYOR ISSUES 2017 INTERNATIONAL MEN'S DAY PROCLAMATION

The United States International Men's Day Team is pleased to announce that the City of Philadelphia's Mayor, The Honorable James F. Kenney, has issued a Proclamation for 2017 International Men's Day which designates Sunday, 19 November 2017 as "International Men's Day" throughout the City of Philadelphia (see below).  Inaugurated on 19 November 1999 in Trinidad and Tobago by Jerome Teelucksingh, Ph.D., a Gender Issues Thought Leader, humanitarian, faculty member in the History Department at the University of West Indies, author, and poet, International Men's Day is observed in 82 nations --  including the United States.   International Men's Day shares a 48 hour partnership with Universal Children's Day which is observed worldwide on 20 November of each year and is endorsed by the United Nations.

 

Approximately  3.6 billion souls of the 7.5 billion souls who occupy this space and place we know as Planet Earth are males – Men and Boys  -- Homeless Men and Boys, Incarcerated Men, Married Men, Divorced Men, Single Men, Men who are Fathers, physically and mentally disabled Men and Boys, Men and Boys who live in poverty, Men and Boys who are Christians, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists and agnostics, Men and Boys who are poor or rich, educated or uneducated, Men and Boys of diverse ethnicities and Men and Boys who speak different languages – French, Urdu, Spanish, English, Portugese, Swahili, Xhosa, Arabic, Gaelic, German, Chinese, Russian, Japanese, Italian, Hindi, Bengali, and Punjabi/Lahnda. The experiences of Men and Boys are as diverse as their age, levels of education, religion, ethnicity, language, and culture. Diversity should evoke celebration and understanding.  Global and Regional Coordinators for 2017 International Men’s Day are encouraging individuals, organizations, and institutions  throughout our global village to build bridges of understanding and not walls that divide and to engage in solutions-based dialogues that create pathways for designing, implementing, and supporting initiatives which recognize the diversity of Men and Boys – particularly their experiences of "marginalization" which are shaped, in part, as an example, by socio-economic status, ethnic and religious bias, language, and culture.  

The 2017 International Men's Day theme -- “Celebrating Men And Boys In All Their Diversity” is a “Call To Action” --- for individuals, institutions, and organizations to innovate the manner in which they design and deliver resources and support services that speak to the unique needs and issues of Men and Boys which address their diversity and to refrain from utilizing an “one-size-fits-all” approach to creating tools for Men and Boys that help them empower themselves and strengthen the communities in which they live.