Breakthrough India's Reframe summit calls for engagement with men and boys to achieve gender equality

DUBAI, UAE, March 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Breakthrough India's three-day Pan-Asia summit "Reframe" started a dialogue on raising awareness on concerns around accountability in the sphere of transforming masculinities and engaging men and boys to achieve gender equality.

As India struggles to keep pace with its gender equality targets, national reports of progress against Sustainable Development Goal 5 on Gender Equality evidence the need for an increased understanding and awareness of the unequal power relations between men and women in society.

Anthony Keedi, Program Manager, Masculinities and engaging men in Gender Equality, Lebanon, said "Accountability is about acknowledging and understanding the part one plays in the harm done against women and other groups in patriarchy, through our hidden powers and privileges. On the other hand, the work on engaging men and masculinities should be in conversation with women. Women, and other marginalised groups need to be at the forefront of this process to ensure that we recognize who we are doing this for."

Currently, involving men and boys to achieve social equality varies by country and context. But one needs to consider the various factors that influence men and boys, and thus, the work on men and masculinities.

Madhumita Das, Feminist Researcher, Faculty, The George Washington University, India, noted, "If you look at growing evidence about involving men and boys in transforming injustices, most initiatives have a very narrow focus and have been adapted as an instrumental approach rather than strategy. It has been observed that these initiatives tend to over justify the reason for integrating the component rather than deeply understanding how this move will help achieve the overall goal of gender equality. Accountability to women's rights activists, SRHR, and LGBTQIA+ movement will ensure that our efforts are more effective and impactful and it must be central to all our work with men and boys."

The majority of the work with men and boys focuses on individual behavior change. While this is important, it is equally vital to ensure that work on men and masculinities centers the systems change agenda in order for this field to meaningfully add value to advance the broader feminist agenda of equality and justice.