Feminism and menNikki van der Gaag

Den Haag

December 8 2014

Cartoon by Jacky Fleming

Why do men need to be involved in feminism?

• Because women and girls have changed a lot, men and boys much less.

• Because there is no country in the world where women and men have equal

opportunities, equal pay or equal distribution of assets.

• At current rates of progress, it will take 81 years to achieve gender equality,

according to the United Nations.

What has improved for women and girls?

The law

The vote

Girls’education

Women’s employment

Challenging patriarchy:

What still needs to improve?

Violence against women

Sexism and misogyny, both online and

offline

Maternal mortality

Unpaid care work

Political power

The glass ceiling

One step forward… three steps back

‘Experience shows that even women’s rights victories that were won decades

ago are under fresh threat of reversal – such as reproductive choice, access to

basic education, freedom of movement.’ The Association for Women’s Rights

in Development (AWID), 2013.

“When you work for women’s interests, it’s two steps forward – if you’re

really smart and very lucky! – and at least one step back. And those steps

back are, ironically, often evidence of your effectiveness; because they

represent the threat you have posed to the power structure and its attempt

to push you back.” Sheena Patel, SPARC, India

Why men and feminism? The right thing

to do“Feminism is about addressing the power imbalances that limit people’s

opportunities to live their life to the fullest. We need men to join the feminist

pursuit of social justice because it is the only right thing to do.”

MamaCash blog, October 1 2014.

Why now? Not new, but growing interest in

men and boys and feminism/gender

equality… UN Women’s new ‘He for She’ campaign.

UNFPA, CARE, and other ngos have programmes that include men and boys

Instituto Promundo and Sonke Gender Justice

Men Engage

Men Care

What are the obstacles to increasing

men’s involvement in gender equality?

Gender equality still seen as a ‘women’s issue’

“Feminism-flavoured gender equality is a bogey for most men, something

alien, something not familiar, something frightening.”(Tomi Timperi,

Miessakit, Finland)

Pressure on men to conform to traditional gender norms

“There is an absolute terror in individual men of gender bending, of coming

across as gay, or female…”.(Henk De Smaele, University of Antwerp, Belgium)

Many men’s apathy or resistance to change

“The biggest barrier is apathy, or at least reluctance…in addition, there is

active resistance. Activists who engage in gender equality work may even be

considered traitors.” (Timo Honkasalo, Profeministimiehet, Finland)

Hostility of men’s rights activists/organisations to genuine gender equality

Engaging men in gender equality strategies is a distraction from the task of

empowering women

“If men join in the struggle, they will take over.” (Marceline Naudi,

University of Malta)

So why would men give up power?

‘Not to buy into patriarchy means renouncing some historical privileges, but they are privileges which don’t give you peace, don’t give you happiness. What gives people happiness is being connected. If we continue with this gender asymmetry we are all in trouble.’

Oswaldo Montoya Telleria, Nicaragua, MenEngage Network

‘Not only does feminism give woman a voice, but it also clears the way for men to free themselves from the stranglehold of traditional masculinity. When we hurt the women in our lives, we hurt ourselves, and we hurt our community, too’

Byron Hurt, African- American documentary film-maker and anti-sexist activist.

‘We haven’t done a good enough job of finding the sugar to go along with the medicine: helping men to understand that there are positive things that come with gender equality – better sex, happier partners, happier children, happier lives for men themselves because their children and their partners are happier…’

Gary Barker, Instituto Promundo, Brazil

Men’s contradictory experiences of power

Both women and girls and men and boys are defined not just by their gender

but by geography and poverty, age, class and race, sexuality and disability,

among other things. Michael Kaufman: ‘men’s contradictory experiences of

power’.

Most of the work with men on gender equality to date has been small scale,

often working with disenfranchised men such as young men in favelas in Brazil

or in townships in South Africa. This work is important, as it is about changing

their idea of what it means to be a man and preventing violence.

Which men?

But for real change to happen, it is also important to engage men in

power. So increasingly organisations are working with religious and

community leaders.

Time for change. It is time now that men with power at national and

international level also look at their own lives. That means engaging

men in positions of power – male presidents, prime ministers and CEOs

– who can change both policy and practice.

What does it mean to involve men in

feminism?

It involves keeping power dynamics firmly in perspective. It means

challenging patriarchal institutions and structures that maintain the

status quo.

It means men questioning the power they wield – at home, in the

community, in the wider world – and challenging the notions of traditional

masculinity that keep that power in place.

It means men in powerful positions ensuring that men who rape or harass

or discriminate do not get away with it. Challenging impunity.

It means that women working on gender equality need to be more open

to involving men in the struggle for social justice, without giving up vital

space and resources.

What does involving men not mean?

It does not mean shifting the focus of work away from women and girls

It does not mean that men are now less powerful than women (as some men’s rights groups

claim)

It does not mean men leading on gender, but standing alongside women.

It should mean that we are more likely to achieve gender equality in less than 81 years!

Highlight the benefits of gender equality for men

Take into account the diversity among men

Focus on ‘opportunity moments’ in men’s lives

‘Young fathers enjoy having a real relationship to their children. They also

enjoy having more roles in the household and are no longer the helpless man

at the stove after coming home from work, like their fathers and

grandfathers.’ (Jonni Brem, Men’s Counselling Centre, Vienna, Austria)

Address the real problems that some men experience

Build alliances with women and women’s groups

‘Building alliances takes time, energy, resources and goodwill, with both

sides showing perseverance and patience and the courage to get it wrong

and work it through. It is in the struggle to hear each other that a useful

process can come up with new outcomes.’

(Sé Franklin, Men’s Development Network, Ireland)

What would foster greater involvement

of men?

Men as Change Agents: Sites and

Examples

Education

Caring for children

Anti-violence programmes

Involve men at senior levels in organisations

Government initiatives

International/European

‘Women are strong, bold, and brave, but men and boys also have a big role to play in ending gender inequality.

I know many of you desire a better world for women and girls and more than a few of you are actively working on bringing about positive changes. But there is much more to do.

I invite you to join me and the women and men of the world who have led many long struggles for gender equality. In Africa, we have a saying that I want to leave with you. ‘If you go alone you go fast, but if you go together you go far’. Let us go far together.’

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Under-Secretary-General,

March 2014

Questions for discussion

1. Should feminism include men? What are the potential advantages and

disadvantages of men’s involvement?

2. Can me and boys and unlearn patriarchal masculinity and women and girls

unlearn patriarchal femininity, and if so, how?

3.What are the obstacles to increasing men’s support for feminism? What would

foster greater involvement?

5. What can I do to support this change? Bearing in mind the feminist idea that ‘the

personal is political’