“Street Devil Home Angel” was a concept unveiled to me at a young age. Having spent almost a week seeking the girl’s toilets as safe refuge, I finally told my parents about a boy who had been chasing me at recess and lunch with the threat to catch me and “make me” his girlfriend. I was 8.
A girl older than me noticed I was spending every break in the toilets and clocked the villain lingering outside the door blocking my exit. She negotiated my freedom but in return he expected me to give him something the following day. This was the day I learned a very crude word for female genitals…to be more accurate, I did not know the meaning until I repeated it to my parents whose expressions turned thunderous.
My father turned up on the doorstep of the boy’s home and asked to speak with his parents. They were typical middle-class and probably God’s nicest people – a picture-perfect example of parental success. With an angelic son – or so they thought.
And then I discovered the reverse – Street Angel and Home Devil – my neighbours in the first apartment I bought. Lovely people they introduced themselves with a thoughtful note and cake on my doorstep – welcoming me to the block. He would help me carry bags of heavy groceries on the occasion we ran into each other in the basement car park. Such a lovely guy I thought and lamented my single status. But the harrowing screams from her in the middle of one frightening night had me call the police and proved my superficial knowing incorrect.
An individual’s duality in different environments can be tricky. Their masked personas can be invisible when you see only a few degrees of their 360 life. An erstwhile pillar of society in the workplace can become a perpetrator of violence behind closed doors. Leaving work at the office does not mean leaving frustration, and disillusionment at their desk. The private lives of many men may never be known. Until it is.
Our country was built by the patriarchy and permeates educational institutions, local community groups, and corporate Australia. Shaping attitudes and behaviours the influence of corporate life in the conversation about gendered violence cannot be underestimated.
Corporate entities, with their vast resources and reach, serve as beacons of societal norms and values. They wield immense power not only in driving economic growth but also to mould perceptions, step up to social issues and set better standards. When these entities prioritise diversity, inclusion, and social responsibility, they become more than just profit-making machines; they emerge as genuine role models, inspiring positive change beyond their office walls, and influencing out-of-office character.
Take companies that champion gender equality not just as a policy but as a core brand value. They actively promote women to leadership positions, implement equitable pay structures, and foster inclusive workplace cultures that tackle tough subjects. These conscious corporate citizens not only set an example for others but also empower marginalised groups including women, to thrive professionally and personally, breaking the cycle of inequality.
Of course, the flip side of the corporate coin reveals a darker reality. The pressure to conform to traditional notions of masculinity within corporate environments can leave men feeling displaced and voiceless in an evolving landscape striving for gender equality. This sense of uncertainty and disempowerment can manifest in toxic deeds, perpetuating or contributing to damaging attitudes towards women both within the office and behind the residential closed doors.
Renowned UK artist Grayson Perry aptly articulates the complexities of modern masculinity, urging men to embrace vulnerability and redefine their roles in a rapidly changing world. Perry notes, “Default Man feels he is the reference point from which all other values and cultures are judged.”
Perry emphasises the need to dismantle this straitjacket of the Default Man identity, which perpetuates harmful gender norms. He explains “This Default Man is the zero longitude of identities. Historically he has forged a society very much in his own image, to the point where now much of what other groups think and feel is the same. They take on the attitudes of Default Man because they are the attitudes of our elders, our education, our government, our media. Being male and middle class and being from a generation that valued the stiff upper lip means our Default Man is an ideal candidate for low emotional awareness. He sits in a gender/ class/age nexus marked “Unexploded Emotional Time Bomb”.
Closer to the pulse of Australia, author Tim Winton sheds light on the struggles faced by men and boys urging society to address the root causes of male aggression and violence. Winton passionately expresses concern about the societal expectations placed on boys and young men to conform to narrow and harmful notions of masculinity.
He highlights the pervasive influence of misogyny, which recruits and indoctrinates boys into a confused state of identity. “There’s a constant pressure to enlist, to pull on the uniform of misogyny and join the Shithead Army that enforces and polices sexism. These boys in the surf. The things they say to me! The stuff I hear them saying to their mates! Some of it makes you want to hug them. Some of it makes you want to cry. Some of it makes you ashamed to be a male. Especially the stuff they feel entitled or obliged to say about girls and women.”
In the realm of corporate Australia, inequalities have been glaringly evident, from the gender pay gap to the lack of representation in leadership roles. These disparities not only reflect broader societal inequalities but also exacerbate them, perpetuating systems of oppression and marginalisation.
Remember Christine Holgate and her career-ending (and redefining) Cartier watch-gate moment. She recalls “The more I spoke up the more other people started writing to me and telling me about their injustice at work. And the more I learned about that injustice at work, the more I learned a deeper side of domestic violence and homelessness in Australia.”
A recent UN study on women’s disempowerment underscores the urgent need for concerted action to dismantle patriarchal structures and foster genuine gender equality. Corporate Australia, with its vast influence and resources, can play a pivotal role in this endeavour by fostering inclusive workplaces, championing diversity, and challenging outdated notions of masculinity.
The current environment and conversation about male violence provide an opportunity for corporate Australia to become active in addressing the crisis of male violence. Their inherent influence and power as a vehicle for positive change cannot be understated. Corporations can help us reshape societal norms, empower the voices of girls and women, and champion the men who are stepping up to tackle the issue of what healthy males do and don’t do.
Consider when Jen told then PM Scott Morrison to think as a father of daughters would. Put that on steroids because corporate Australia your time starts now: be the economic powerhouses that create the ability for better standards of living in domestic life – but equally – champion the urgent and rapid scaling of what it means to be a good man, husband, partner and father in every corner of your world. Your actions and values can impact a lot more than your share price on the ASX.