WUNRN
AWID Resource Net Friday File
Association for Women's Rights in Development
Friday January 19,
2007
Part of the problem but part of the solution: what role can men play
in
the challenge for gender equality?
How can men be allies in the
fight for gender equality and women's rights?
This article canvasses the
issues, the debate and ways that men can (and
whether they should) join the
battle.
By Rochelle Jones - AWID
WOMEN'S BUSINESS?
There
has been resounding international awareness and recognition,
accelerated by
the Millennium Development Goals, that gender equality and
women's rights are
key to development. What has emerged on the sidelines
however, is a growing
debate on the value of including and encouraging the
engagement of men.
The conceptual shift in development discourse from 'Women in
Development'
(WID) to 'Gender and Development' (GAD), reflected a recognition
that
whilst there is a strong need for programs that focus on the
specific
empowerment of women, gender relations between men and women are
also an
important centre of analysis to reveal and address inequalities
that
perpetuate the subjugation of women.
Engaging and working with
men on issues of women's rights and empowerment
however, raises many
uncertainties and concerns within feminist circles,
and there is a
well-established debate as to whether and what extent men
should be involved
in the accomplishment of women's rights and gender
equality. Indeed some
questions raised "take us to the very heart of our
assumptions,
understandings, politics and ideologies about gender equality,
even the very
notion of gender... gender equality is not a fixed thing; it
is a shorthand
for a very long term process of changing gender relations,
and making them
more equal, more fair, more democratic, less oppressive and
less patriarchal.
This involves changing men." [1]. But how can this be
achieved?
Oxfam
argues that there are "uncertainties about working with men. Work
with men
could be seen as a distraction from the fundamental work of
empowering women,
or as an attempt by men to co-opt existing gender work
for their own
purposes. It could divert (or seen to be diverting) resources
away from the
empowerment of women, raising concerns in the current context
of shrinking
development assistance" [2].
Similarly in a recent publication, BRIDGE
have acknowledged "resistance on
the part of some women to involving men in
gender and development work ?
driven by fears about the dilution of the
feminist agenda, and by anxieties
over the diversion of limited resources
away from women's empowerment
initiatives and back into the hands of men"
[3].
Despite the uncertainties, more and more women's rights advocates
agree
that engaging men in women's rights work is not merely acceptable,
but
critical. Feminist activist and writer bell hooks asserts: "Without
males
as allies in struggle, [the] feminist movement will not progress" [4].
>From high-profile INGOs to grassroots organisations, there is a
powerful
(and increasing) undercurrent that getting men to take
responsibility in
the fight against patriarchy can enhance the outcomes for
women's rights
globally.
Unfortunately it is not simply a matter for
women to allow men to take part
in the struggle, but a dearth of men willing
to become involved. Many of
women's scepticisms about working with men stem
directly from the fact that
some men are privileged by patriarchy, so why
would they have a vested
interest in the empowerment of women? Resistance to
the engagement of men
in gender equality strategies comes from both sides and
is hence
multidimensional and complex.
WORKING TOGETHER
In the
space where there is an absence of resistance, collaboration
flourishes.
Increased recognition that men are not only part of the
problem, but part of
the solution, has led to innovative praxis in the
field. Some of this work
has been solely initiated by men, whilst
development organisations and
women's rights groups have facilitated most
other projects.
As far
back as 1993 men were organising to address violence against women
in
Nicaragua. Shocked by the sheer scale of male violence, men mobilised
to
address the issue of women's social justice and to "respond to
men's
concerns of a 'socially imposed model that encouraged us to drink,
fight,
dominate, and sexually conquer women'...By 1999 the group had
organised
over 360 men in all-male workshops and two national conventions,
leading to
the founding of the Nicaraguan Association of Men Against
Violence
(Asociación de Hombres Contra la Violencia, or AHCV) in 2000" [5].
The AHCV
continues to conduct training workshops and courses for male
youths,
adolescents and adults to explore and redefine the idea of machismo
and
violence.
Contemporary grass-roots organisations similar to the
AHCV now exist in far
greater numbers, and join male 'pro-feminist' academics
in delivering the
message that "men have a vital role to play in improving
relations between
the sexes" [6]. This has had a flow-on effect, and now key
international
development agencies have taken up the mantle by recognising
the
'engagement of men and boys' as a critical factor in promoting
gender
equality. For example, the recently released 'State of the World's
Children
2007' report published by UNICEF calls for "seven key interventions
to
empower women". Two of those interventions are: 'women empowering
women'
and 'engaging men and boys'.
An issue worth considering,
however, is whether high-profile international
organisations, like the United
Nations agencies, have endorsed and adopted
the strategy of engaging with men
on issues of women's rights too early.
Like some gender mainstreaming
policies, embracing such a complex terrain
in a technocratic manner without a
proper understanding/analysis of power
relations and what it means to involve
men, may be inappropriate. The
realities of concerns like this will unfold
over time.
WHAT DOES THIS ENGAGEMENT LOOK LIKE?
BRIDGE has
recently released an annotated bibliography of research into
different types
of strategies to engage men and boys [3]. Research and case
studies in the
bibliography come from South and Central Asia, Latin America
and the
Caribbean, Africa, Muslim-majority countries, migrant communities
in Europe,
and within large development organisations such as Oxfam and the
United
Nations Development Program (UNDP). The breadth and depth of
information
available demonstrates that men can be, and are, allies across
a plethora of
issue areas that affect women:
* Men as partners against gender-based
violence;
* Strengthening men's resistance to violence and conflict;
*
Fostering constructive male involvement in sexual and reproductive health
and
rights (including HIV/AIDS);
* Encouraging men's positive engagement as
fathers and carers; and
* Promoting more gender-equitable institutional
cultures and practices
within development organisations.
Types of
strategies vary. There are support groups for male perpetrators;
police
sensitisation to the barriers facing women in domestic violence
cases;
gender-awareness training for men; and using drama to promote the
positive
role men can play in the prevention of HIV/AIDS to name a few.
Indigenous organisations in Australia have long been engaging men and
boys
on issues of family violence prevention and intervention. Rejecting
the
term 'domestic' or 'gender-based' violence, 'family violence' is
the
preferred language used by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women
in
Australia, demonstrating their desire for both men and women to
take
responsibility for the violence occurring in their communities.
This
language shift has ensured that many programs directly target men,
and
cater for their needs as well as the needs of women. Programs range
from
father-son educational camps, perpetrator support groups, identity
and
healing workshops for men, and community resource and advisory
centres.
If we visualise a learning curve for women's rights work,
engaging with men
in the journey towards gender equality will be positive.
The coming years
will be critical, however, in terms of program evaluation
outcomes and
further research into the positive and negative impacts this
phenomenon is
having on women's rights work. "In a society that ascribes
rigid codes of
socially acceptable behaviour to the categories man and woman,
everyone
suffers the consequences"
[4].
________________________________
Notes:
[1] Jeff Hearn
2001. Men and Gender Equality: Resistance, Responsibilities
and Reaching Out.
Department of Applied Social Science, University of
Manchester, UK; and The
Swedish School of Economics and Business
Administration, Helsinki,
Finland.
www.ashanet.org/focusgroups/sanctuary/articles/Hearn_Men_and_Gender_Equality.doc
[2]
Sandy Ruxton (Ed.) 2004. Gender Equality and Men. Published by Oxfam
GB.
Available
at:
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/resources/geneqmen.htm
[3]
Emily Esplen. 2006. Engaging Men in Gender Equality: Positive
Strategies and
Approaches. BRIDGE (development ? gender), Institute of
Development Studies,
University of
Sussex.
http://www.bridge.ids.ac.uk/bibliographies.htm
[4] Cited in
Jenn Ruddy. 2006. Gender Mending: Men, Masculinity, and
Feminism: To what
extent is it appropriate or possible for men who resist
patriarchy to
participate in the feminist
movement?
http://www.xyonline.net/Gendermending.shtml
[5] Quoted by
Oswaldo Montoya of the Managua Men's Group Against Violence,
cited in: Gareth
Richards, 2001. 'We're Not From Mars,' Nicaraguan Men
Against Violence
Assert. Panos
London.
http://www.panos.org.uk/global/featuredetails.asp?featureid=1040&ID=1005
[6]
Michael Flood. 2001. Can men be feminists? Available
from
http://www.xyonline.net/Canmenbefeminists.shtml
[7] Available
from:
http://www.unicef.org/sowc07/
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