Working with Boys and Men

This document continues the discussion in Part One by providing an overview of best practices in prevention, the content and format of men's prevention programs, and an overview of different program philosophies or pedagogies.

This document provides an overview of current efforts involving men in the prevention of violence against women. It discusses men's role in prevention, what is effective in men's prevention, and cultural issues and considerations in working with men,

ISSUE: Four Latin American NGOs have collaborated with PROMUNDO Institute (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) since 1998 to call greater attention to the needs and realities of young men ages 15-24 in sexual and reproductive health, HIV/AIDS and gender violence prevention, and to engage them in HIV/AIDS prevention.

This 48-page report provides a detailed review of effective practice in violence prevention education among men, drawing on literature on both adult education and violence prevention. It focuses in particular on efforts among male athletes in professional sporting and other settings, as well as those using ‘peer mentor’ approaches.

Allegations of sexual assault and harassment by rugby league and Australian Football League (AFL) players in 2004 and 2005 put the link between sport and violence against women firmly on the public agenda. There was widespread media coverage of the allegations and substantial community debate. In response to these allegations and the issues surrounding them, both rugby league and AFL codes initiated education programs among their players.

Involving men in our work towards gender equality is by no means a new idea, but there remains reluctance within women’s movements to promote or embrace it. Engaging men is critical to achieving gender justice; thus this primer addresses strategies and tools for working with men.

... While the concept of Gender Equality is not new, what is relatively new is the concerted effort to revisit men's roles and identities in order to significantly increase men's involvement in gender equal societies. The current policy brief aims to present key rationales, identify principal challenges, and recommend actionable strategies for engaging boys, young and adult men in efforts to achieve gender equality. The goal of the policy brief is to provide policy makers, practitioners, business and the civil society leaders with a framework for developing strategies, implementing programs, and evaluating progress of engaging men in gender equality efforts in all spheres of life.

Compared with women, men - especially young men - are overwhelmingly involved in all types of violence. Cultural ideas about what it means to be a man often support this violence. But that is not to say that violence is a natural condition for men, or a natural part of being a man. Men are taught to use violence and at times are encouraged to use it. This paper was prepared for a 2003 UNESCAP Sub-regional Training Workshop on the Elimination of Violence Against Women in Partnership with Men.

Emerging programme approaches hold promise in changing gender norms and behaviours among boys and young men, according to this four-page piece from YouthNet, published in 2005.

This 212-page report is an outcome of an expert conference on gender equality under Finland’s Presidency , held in 2006 in Helsinki and focused on men and gender equality. The aim of the conference was to enhance the handling of issues related to men and gender equality as a part of the EU’s gender equality policy. A further aim was to boost the interest in treating men and gender equality as a separate theme in member states’ gender equality policies.

The report includes discussion of four themes:
men’s role in dismantling segregation in education and training,