International Men’s Day 2022 celebrations: Celebrating Mateship

SEVA International Inc, Sri Lankan Australian Women’s Network and Boronia Multicultural Services collaborated to celebrate International Men’s Day on 19 November 2022 at Parravilla Function Centre, Parramatta.

International Men’s Day is an opportunity to celebrate the positive values men bring to the world, their families and the communities.  Men face a series of challenges that need to be addressed to have our communities function to their fullest potential. The aim of this event is to recognise positive role models, raise awareness of men’s health and well-being and promote healthy relationships.

One of the six pillars of International Men’s Day (19th November) is to improve gender relations and promote gender equality not only for men but for women too.

The IMD theme for 2022 was “Celebrating Mateship”. Research shows that close friendships and social connections can promote good health. Mateship helps men to live longer, better and healthier lives. This in turn supports happy family relationships.

20 November is also the International Children’s Day. These two days celebrate men and children and the special relationships they share. Both days encourage men to teach their children, particularly boys in their lives, the values, character and responsibilities of being a man.

Sumati Advani, President of SEVA International said “It is only when we all, both men and women, lead by example that we will be able to create a fair and safe society which allows everyone the opportunity to prosper. It is very important to promote positive role models to inspire others– as they say you can’t be what you can’t see.” 

Councillor Suman Saha spoke about the importance of Building Happy and Healthy relationships and Building Better Social Connections.

Dr Rajeev Jairam spoke about Men’s Mental Health and Wellbeing. He guided the audience through what works against men including mental health and genetic disorders. He used statistics to paint a picture of the issues facing men that make them vulnerable and proposed solutions.

Nikita Sofranov of Freedman and Gopalan Solicitors gave a comprehensive definition of the new Consent Laws and explained this legislation in simple everyday language for the audience to understand.

Simran Keswani, of SEVA YUVA team, elaborated about her Case Closed project which shone the light on sexual harassment. There have been too many sexual harassment instances in schools and universities and workplaces. She said it was easy to blame the girls but what we need to do is get young men to change their behaviour- values, attitudes and act responsibly. For change to occur, we need to start the conversation within the community. We need to educate our children from a very young age and through our own behaviours. We need to present a consistent message that these types of behaviour will not be tolerated.

Niro Dayalan, Leadership & Resilience Coach attributed current issues faced by men to Under-Fathering and recommended that manhood must be taught. Men are usually emotionally unavailable for their children resulting in under fathering. He encouraged the audience to understand what makes a man and the challenges faced by men with many feeling “not being understood”.

Bingo Icebreaker was co-ordinated by Sunila Kotwal, Lead of Saheli /SEVA and Sapna Lazarus Vice President SEVA.

Nalika Padmasena, President of SLAWN skillfully managed the Q&A panel with the speakers giving the opportunity to the audience to further clarify many of the issues discussed.

Bernadette Agyepong, Manager BMS gave the Vote of Thanks.

The event EmCee was Poonam Bhamgara, SEVA Yuva Lead.

SEVA’s latest research report – The Impact of Covid19 on the Mental Health and Wellbeing of South Asian Elders in Australia—completed in conjunction with Macquarie University NSW was released in the event.

This event was funded by Multicultural NSW.