WUNRN
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)61683-4/fulltext
Also Via SVRI – Sexual Violence Research Initiative
From
Work with Men & Boys to Changes of Social Norms & Reduction of
Inequities
in Gender Relations: A Conceptual Shift in Prevention of Violence Against Women & Girls
“Masculinities are embodied and reproduced across the social ecology, and thus interventions must seek changes at multiple levels…….. Some individual risk factors for violence perpetration, particularly exposure to childhood adversity, and subsequent traumatic experiences, substance misuse, and mental ill-health, are also important factors that need specific responses.”
Published Online: 20 November 2014
Summary
Violence perpetrated by and against men and
boys is a major public health problem. Although individual men's use of
violence differs, engagement of all men and boys in action to prevent violence
against women and girls is essential. We discuss why this engagement approach
is theoretically important and how prevention interventions have developed from
treating men simply as perpetrators of violence against women and girls or as
allies of women in its prevention, to approaches that seek to transform the
relations, social norms, and systems that sustain gender inequality and
violence. We review evidence of intervention effectiveness in the reduction of
violence or its risk factors, features commonly seen in more effective
interventions, and how strong evidence-based interventions can be developed
with more robust use of theory. Future interventions should emphasise work with
both men and boys and women and girls to change social norms on gender
relations, and need to appropriately accommodate the differences between men
and women in the design of programmes.
Introduction
The need for work with men in the
prevention of violence against women and girls (VAWG) is well accepted among
advocates, educators, and policy makers. Over the past 10–15 years,
interventions involving men and boys have proliferated around the world. These
interventions have been motivated by a desire to address the role of men in
violence perpetration, and recognition that masculinity and gender-related
social norms are implicated in violence.
Key Messages
Men's use and experience of violence is a major public health problem, and
men and boys are necessary participants, along with women and girls, in
prevention interventions to reduce perpetration of violence against women and
girls.
Men's perpetration of violence against women and girls is
a constituent element of gender inequality, and men's use and experiences of
violence are upheld by commonly held versions of manhood. Violence against
women and girls is more common where men themselves encounter high levels of
violence.
Interventions to address perpetration of violence against women and girls
by men vary greatly in terms of target groups, change objectives, and methods.
Evidence on interventions solely with boys and men is scarce, and most points
to some
Future work should promote more programmes with women and girls, in
addition to boys and men, for effective and sustained gender transformation.
This work should strive for several varied change objectives related to
violence reduction and the factors most associated with perpetration, have
enduring effects, and be based on robust theories of change.
Interventions need a coordinated focus on multiple risk factors and
ecological levels (eg, individual, peer/family, and community levels).
Approaches that centre on community norm change have the potential to change
versions of masculinity that promote violence. In so doing, they address power
and oppression, and seek to change the mechanisms in society that support them.
Ways
Forward
Clear ways forward to enhance violence
prevention exist in the form of approaches that involve boys and men in
addition to efforts to strengthen women's resilience to violence. As a starting
point, this Series paper discussed gender theory to explain that violence
against women and girls does not occur in a social vacuum, but arises out of a
context of gender inequity and social norms of gender relations that are
largely supported by both men and women.22x2Connell, R. Gender and power: Society, the
Person and Sexual Politics. University of California Press, Palo Alta, Calif;
1987
See all References, 75x75Jewkes, R and Morrell, R. Sexuality and
the limits of agency among South African teenage women: theorising femininities
and their connections to HIV risk practices. Soc Sci Med. 2012; 74:
1729–1737
CrossRef
| PubMed
| Scopus (30)See all
References, 81x81Gavey, N. Just sex? The cultural
scaffolding of rape. Routledge, Hove, Brighton; 2005
See all
References Thus women and men, and younger and older people, all
need to be actively involved in prevention efforts for sustainable gender
transformation to be achieved, since gender norms are reproduced through
generations and operate across the lifecourse and not only among those most at
risk of current perpetration.
Some variation in the importance of
different risk factors exists across settings, because masculinities, men's
histories, traumatic event exposure, and social marginalisation all vary.
Therefore, programme planning should be based on local data, including
sociological data that provide insight into masculinities and any variations in
the known risk factors for perpetration.14x14Fulu, E, Warner, X, Miedema, S, Jewkes,
R, Roselli, T, and Lang, J. Why Do Some Men Use Violence Against Women and How
Can We Prevent it. Quantitative Findings from the United Nations Multi-Country
Study on Men and Violence in Asia and the Pacific. United Nations Development
Programme, United Nations Population Fund, United Nations Women and United
nations Volunteers, Bankok; 2013
See all
References14 In many intervention sites, mapping of local versions
of masculinities and their influences can be a useful part of formative
research for the intervention design, and can also be part of the intervention.
Interventions that address masculinity seem to be more effective than those
that remain blind to the powerful influences of gender norms and systems of
inequality. Thus, understanding and application of theories of masculinity are
important for effective intervention design. Furthermore, the theories suggest
a movement away from interventions with primary goals related to
individual-level attitude changes, towards a focus on transformation of
hegemonic masculinities associated with violence perpetration, with a goal of
violence prevention.
Masculinities are embodied and reproduced
across the social ecology, and thus interventions must seek changes at multiple
levels. One intervention or organisation cannot always do this and so strategic
approaches to programming, with collaborations between organisations, can be
particularly valuable. Further research is needed into the association between
changes among individuals, partnership dyads, and in communities. This is not
only a question of the scaling up of discrete interventions, but coordination
of separate interventions, which work at different ecological levels and target
different risk factors to achieve a reduction in violence.
Some individual risk factors for violence
perpetration, particularly exposure to childhood adversity, and subsequent
traumatic experiences, substance misuse, and mental ill-health, are also
important factors that need specific responses. Mental health services are
often underprovided and not focused on assisting trauma victims, but the
importance of these services for men and women needs to be recognised.
New generations of interventions need to
take the finding that more successful violence prevention programmes have a
relatively long participant engagement time as a starting point. Further
research is needed to optimise this finding and understand how best to gain
value for money in violence prevention, but, at present, evidence suggests that
brief interventions on gender norms might simply not work. Overall, the
questions of whether and how diversity among men should be taken into account
in interventions, and what the implications of this are for efforts to prevent
the occurrence of violence are too little understood.
One of the key controversies in work with men has been the presentation of this approach as a superior alternative to historical work with women on violence prevention and responses. This controversy is increasingly clear as a false dichotomy. Experience shows that violence prevention cannot be undertaken successfully without provision of services for survivors, and indications that social institutions care about violence against women and girls. Successful prevention should involve empowerment of women as individuals, within relationships and across society, and transformation of masculinities should be framed as a complement to these. Furthermore, men need to both change themselves and align themselves with women to deepen and sustain the goals of women's rights and empowerment in economic, political, and domestic terms. Deepening of men's understanding of the need for this change is crucial, including how they can contribute directly, such as by including their daughters in inheritance (or changing laws if this is prohibited), supporting women's work, sharing domestic work, or at a community level through supporting women's participation in political processes.