Back to Index

Role of men in promoting gender equality
Moses Semwayo
August 17, 2012

I greet you all ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls and thank you very much for coming to this crucial discussion on the role of men in promoting gender equality. My name is Moses Semwayo and I do several activities ranging from consultancy, NGO advising on programming and gender activist.

Before going deeper into the discussion and opening it up for debate to the group, I must stress that the SADC Protocol on Gender and the MDG Goal number 3 on promoting gender equality act as the benchmarks for achieving gender equality within the country and the SADC Region and beyond.

Definition of Terms

Gender: Refers to the roles and responsibilities of men and women that are created in our families, our societies and our cultures. The concept of gender also includes the expectations held about the characteristics, aptitudes (defined as an exceptional ability to reason and learn) and likely behaviours of both men and women (femininity and masculinity)

Gender Equality: Denotes equal value of women and men regardless of their differences, equal conditions and opportunities to access and control resources, process and benefits

Gender Equity: Process of being fair to men and women by dealing with the disadvantages faced by one gender. It might call for different treatment of women and men to achieve the sameness e.g. Affirmative Action for Women to access education.

Men will continue to be eyed with suspicion rather than allies in the battle for women's equality if they fail to question their own privileged positions, according to the latest edition of Contestations, an e-journal that invites online debate and dialogue as it seeks new insights into gender and development issues.

In an article entitled 'Women's empowerment: what do men have to do with it?', Pathways of Women's Empowerment research group director Andrea Cornwall and Emily Esplen, of One World Action, write that the way men and women are portrayed in the field of Gender & Development (GAD) does little to encourage men to see gender equality as their issue too.

They draw attention to fears expressed by some feminists that enlisting men in the battle for gender justice is 'a diversion from the real task of working toward women's empowerment, a nuisance and a threat, draining away vital funding and attention from women's rights, or a fashion without political substance'.

And they invite considered responses to their article, which features as the third edition of Contestations from the Pathways group, which is based at IDS.

The authors write that there is much that men can do to advance the social transformation goals of feminism: 'Take the glaring gap that exists the world over in the representation of women and men in political institutions. Men's groups and movements could mobilise men as voters sympathetic to the issue of equity - and vote female candidates whose agendas address issues of justice and equality into office.

'They could organise men to hold decision makers to account for voting against gender-progressive legislation. They could work with male politicians to address their attitudes towards women and gender issues. What about equal pay and discrimination in the workplace and in relation to economic opportunities?

'There is much work to be done with trades unions, which have traditionally been bastions of male prerogative. There is also a lot to be done on a personal level - men can hold other men to account in their workplaces, their universities and on the streets, including refusing promotion if the women around them are not being promoted, questioning sexist jokes and condemning belittling comments made to women.'

Gender equality is not a women-s issue; it concerns men and boys as well as women and girls. Garnering sufficient support for the profound social changes required by the gender equality agenda cannot be achieved by women alone. It also requires the active involvement of men, all the more so as they often control the resources needed for this work.

The publication Women 2000 and Beyond: The Role of Men and Boys in Achieving Gender Equality presents strategies for and lessons learned from male engagement in these areas, covering both modifying men's personal attitudes and behaviours; and mobilizing men to take action on the political, economic and social structures that maintain gender inequalities.

A quotation that I took from the News Day dated 16 August point to the fact that there is still no agreement to how gender equality can be achieved even at policy level within the country.

'We want to compete equally with men-

Parliamentary Women-s Caucus chairperson Beatrice Nyamupinga on Wednesday said they were against a clause in the draft constitution that proposes to set aside 60 uncontested parliamentary seats for women, saying the provision was likely to trigger a backlash from their male counterparts.

Source: Newsday News Feed - Latest Stories 16 August 2012

• During the commission on the Status of Women debates were focussed on the need to incorporate the involvement of boys and men in promoting gender equality. These are some of the arguments: Improved relations between women and men, could not be achieved by women alone, and men must be fully integrated into the process. Ways must be found of encouraging men to understand gender equality and its positive consequences.
• Their involvement in promoting gender equality was critical to reaching gender balance in a number of areas. Real change would come only when stereotypical attitudes, which inhibited women-s advancement and impeded efforts for gender equality, were once and for all removed.
• The Commission had rightly placed the role of men and boys in achieving gender equality on its agenda. Their involvement in promoting gender equality was critical to reaching gender balance in a number of areas. Real change would come only when stereotypical attitudes which inhibited women-s advancement and impeded efforts for gender equality were once and for all removed.
• Considering how much inequality between women and men still existed in most parts of the world, remarkable progress had been achieved in a very short time, UN noted. By empowering women politically, economically and socially, societies as a whole gain, and would have a greater likelihood of bridging the gap towards achieving the 2015 goals.
• UN stated that: "Our vision is a world where girls and boys have equal opportunities for education, where mothers and children have equal access to better health care and medicines, where women and men share decision-making and household chores equally, equally enjoy fundamental human rights and strive equally to achieve peace, democracy, good governance and sustainable development for their families and nations."

Some of the ways in which men can promote gender equality include but not limited to;

• Dealing with stereotypical attitudes, which inhibited women-s advancement and impeded efforts for gender equality, once and for all should be removed.
• By empowering women politically, economically and socially, societies as a whole gain, and would have a greater likelihood of bridging the gap towards achieving the 2015 MDG goals.
• Early gender sensitive socialisation of boys and improvement of gender sensitive reproductive health service delivery for both men and women
• Mainstreaming legal, institutional and social support for gender equality, equity and empowerment and redefined gender relations in all social spheres, including the family
• Strengthening of local and national level platforms for sustainable community dialogue to confront patriarchy and promote gender equality and construction of alternative forms of masculinity in the wake of cultural practices, gender based violence and HIV and AIDS-increased community awareness on gender equality, HIV and AIDS, positive masculinities and GBV
• To empower men and boys in men-s establishments/organisations to be champions for gender justice through training in advocacy, gender, masculinities and HIV and AIDS
• Enhancing the capacity of traditional, religious and other community level leaders to promote women-s rights and effectively respond to gender based violence and HIV and AIDS in their communities-increased involvement of traditional and religious leaders in promoting women-s rights, gender equality and combating gender based violence and HIV and AIDS
• Increasing activism by community boys and men in advocating for women-s empowerment and gender equality-community men and boys mobilised and taking action in supporting the empowerment of women and gender equality
• Initiating community discussion forums and allowing women and girls to own the means of production and in charge of resources
• Creation of community charters on the need to promote gender equality within communities
• Creating linkages and collaborations on promoting gender equality and learning from other organisation-s experiences within the country and the SADC Region
• Creating safe spaces for girls and women to be able to take up decision making positions in all sectors i.e. politics, religion, economy and society in general
• Advocacy on the need for more women in decision making positions and through the zebra system of choosing candidates within the political parties involved

More ideas will be generated during the open discussion with participants.

Conclusion

In conclusion it is clear from the above argument that women alone will not be able to win the battle of promoting gender equality without the involvement of men and boys. Toxic masculinities and negative attitudes towards women have been some of the major impediments to gender equality. The SADC Gender Protocol pushes for 50/50 in political and decision making positions by 2015 and as for Zimbabwe with the coming of the new constitution there is a ray so hope that gender equality can be achieved. At UN Level the MDGs also through the number 3 goal also stresses the need to promote gender equality through all the sectors and educate the girl child so that she can be at the same table with the boy child.

Sources:

• UN Publications on Gender Equality, New York
• Engaging Men and Boys in Gender Equality 2011 ICOMP, UNFP
• News Day 16 August, 2012 Harare

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP