The bi-annual Munk Debates are a series of debates that invite distinguished individuals to come to Toronto and discuss a carefully selected major policy issue. Sponsored by the Aurea foundation (instituted by Peter Munk), the debates have grown to become internationally acclaimed as an outlet for great thinkers to present their informed opinions on pressing current topics. At each debate, a poll is taken of the audience before and after the event, and the winner is decided by the number of people in the audience who were persuaded to change viewpoints.
The Munk Debates have historically featured male debaters — of 42 past speakers, only four have been female. After receiving much criticism from women’s rights activists regarding the lack of female representatives, Munk Debates not only invited a panel of four women to the table, but has made this year’s topic: “Be it resolved, men are obsolete.” The two pro debaters are arguing that women are becoming the standard by which success is being measured and that from a reproductive standpoint men are no longer necessary the way that women are. The two con debaters are arguing that treating men as the enemy is an ineffective form of feminism, and that nature is really to blame for male dominance. The topic itself has caused a recent stir in social media, with people voicing their opinions on both the panelists and the topic.
The Varsity took to the streets to find out what U of T students think about the new topic:
Elena | Fourth-year, International Relations Student
“I side with con. It’s not right to say that men are obsolete, men are dominant by nature and that is the case. Women cannot solely run society; we need a balance of both women and men.”
Chanelle | Fourth-Year, English & Linguistics
“I think it’s great that to step up and have an all-female panel! I’m shocked that they didn’t have more women involved before.”
Camille | Third-Year, Book & Media Studies
“I don’t think that the topic needs to be so extreme.”
Spasa | Second-year, Architecture
“Men cannot exist without women and women cannot exist without men. Munk Debates should give female activists a better argument.”
Rachel | Fourth-Year, Political Science
“It seems to me that Munk debates aren’t working to fix the problem of the lack of inclusion of women, but instead are drawing attention as to why they weren’t including them to begin with.”
Jesse | Fourth-Year, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
“Obviously the debates should be including females. I’d like to see who’s running these debates — I’m assuming it’s white men. I think that this is a silly topic for any panelists, not just women.”
