Released through the House of Commons Library November 2016

What is International Men’s Day?

International Men’s Day (IMD) is an annual international event celebrated in over 80 countries including the UK on 19 November.

It was inaugurated in 1999 in Trinidad and Tobago and has backing from UNESCO.
The UK theme for the Day in 2016 was “Making A Difference for Men and Boys”.

The theme was designed to help more people consider what action we can all take to “Make A Difference” by addressing some of the issues that affect Men and Boys such as:

• The high male suicide rate
• The challenges faced by boys and men at all stages of education including attainment
• Men’s health, shorter life expectancy and workplace deaths
• The challenges faced by the most marginalised men and boys in society (for instance, homeless men, boys in care and the high rate of male deaths in custody)
• Male victims of violence, including sexual violence
• The challenges faced by men as parents, particularly new fathers and separated fathers
• Male victims and survivors of sexual abuse, rape, sexual exploitation, domestic abuse, forced marriage, honour-based crime, stalking and slavery
• The negative portrayal of men, boys and fathers

Our view at Forward For Life – Click on the image below