Bono receives more media attention as Glamour’s first Man of the Year
While Glamour might predominantly be known as a women’s magazine, this year’s Women of the Year issue honoured not only 2016’s most outstanding women, but for the first time, an outstanding man.
The incredible women honoured this year included Olympic gold-medalist Simone Biles, model Ashley Graham, designer Miuccia Prada, Stanford sexual assault case survivor Emily Doe, entertainers Gwen Stefani and Zendaya, IMF head Christine Lagarde, and Nadia Murad who is fighting back against ISIS.
Alongside these women, U2 frontman Bono received the commendation for his advocacy for women’s rights and education, and work to eliminate poverty among women and girls.Bono has created Poverty is Sexist, a new campaign specifically aimed at helping the world’s poorest women—those who survive on less than $2 a day–telling Glamour that, “Women bear the burdens of poverty.”
According to Glamour, Bono said, “I’m sure I don’t deserve it, but I’m grateful for this award as a chance to say the battle for gender equality can’t be won unless men lead it along with women. We’re largely responsible for the problem, so we have to be involved in the solutions.”
I wholeheartedly agree with Bono on that one. Men are part of the problem, and sadly, I think even the most influential woman won’t be able to change the way some men think. That’s why we need men like Bono to fight for the cause, and help influence his fellow man.
In that vein, theoretically, I think acknowledging the work a man has done for women is great. However in practice, bestowing this title on Bono has only drawn attention away from the women who deserve it.
And as you may have noticed, the internet is having a field day.
For example, Twitter user @OhNoSheTwitnt tweeted:
I know this comes as a shock to us over in North America, but this is not completely unprecedented. Glamour UK has been honouring a Man of the Year as part of their annual awards since 2004. I can’t seem to remember the internet causing an uprising for that.
While I personally feel that some of the commentary is a bit extreme, I can certainly appreciate where these women are coming from. I’ll admit that I support the addition of a Man of the Year category, however, this award should not be given at the sacrifice of all the women who were honoured. Amazing women like Emily Doe, who spoke out about sexual assault, and Christine Lagarde, who has paved the way for women in finance, have received very little publicity compared to Bono. To be honest, I didn’t even know these women had been recognized until I read the articles for myself. All I heard was Bono this and Bono that.
I think that’s something many internet “rage writers” forget. While they’re going on and on about how Bono shouldn’t be recognized, they’re detracting from the fact that eight amazing women were recognized.The public disgust at Bono’s commendation results in giving him more publicity than the amazing women who deserve it just as much—if not more.
While I can certainly understand and appreciate the sentiment, I don’t find myself nearly as outraged as many others. I think recognizing men for their work to help the female cause will only bring more attention to the issues we have been fighting to bring to the forefront. If we break the internet every time a man tries to enter what is traditionally women’s territory, how can we expect men to let us enter what is traditionally theirs?
I’m so glad that women around the world have so many strong role models, however, having a strong man in our corner can’t hurt. And having other men following his lead definitely can’t hurt.
Photo courtesy of antonio-cruz_cc-by-2-5.