The world is still far from achieving equality between women and men, but by many measures—including health, education, political participation, and income— it is closer to it than it was 20 years ago. This discussion paper draws on examples of various initiatives and research from around the world that illustrate global progress on men’s engagement in gender equality in relation to the Beijing Platform for Action. It stresses the need to challenge the structures and institutions that sustain men’s privilege and social norms on traditional gender norms is essential.
Key findings
- There are a range of gender equality efforts from around the world that aim to, or have, actively engaged men, from international policy instruments to national and transnational campaigns, including: the UN Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, the White Ribbon Campaign and Nicaragua’s Association of Men Against Violence.
- A number of trends are emerging in research on gender-based violence: the link between men’s struggles to fulfill traditional gender roles and their use of violence against girls and women; a recent longitudinal analysis of DHS data from 15 low- and middle-income countries indicates that attitudes toward violence against women are changing; the effectiveness of group education methodologies is demonstrated in an increasing number of evaluations; and the significance of engaging religious and traditional leaders in recent successful FGM interventions and campaigning.
- Change in the domestic division of labour has been slow compared with other aspects of social life. Men’s involvement lags behind advances women have made in the workplace, while most countries continue to offer little or no paternity leave.
- Despite significant increases in women’s employment, women still face wage gaps and occupational segregation. Further, women and girls’ share of unpaid and domestic work restricts their access to the labour market.
- Sexual and reproductive-health and rights still target towards women and girls even though their access and use of such services are often shaped by men’s decision-making. However, there is signs of progress from around the world with men’s awareness of contraception methods have increased alongside a growing number of them wishing to access better contraceptives.
- How to engage men and boys in a way that encourages transformative change is a concern. Issues include: failure to adequately address patriarchy; shifting of resources away from “traditional” women’s empowerment work; and funding channeled to international organisations rather than local or community-based initiatives.
Recommendations
- Shift the normative understanding of men’s role within the broader agenda for gender equality. More research is needed to understand the ways in which men and boys are already changing and the factors which motivate men to shift from positive attitudes to active engagement.
- Build and act through shared understandings and alliances between men’s work for gender equality and the women’s rights fields, and other social justice movements to work on cross-cutting issues.
- Translate programme and project level work with men into policy and institutions in order for behaviour change to move from the personal to the structural.
- Support building state capacity, civil society monitoring of implementation and ongoing public awareness campaigns to transform perceptions of gender roles among men, and actors within institutions that interact with men as fathers.
