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Men in the Challenge for Gender Equality
2007-02-06
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.
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." 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".
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".
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".
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". 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". 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.
http://www.neww.org.pl/en.php/news/news/1.html?&nw=3372&re=1
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