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Why Work With Boys and Men to End Violence Against Girls and Women?

December 1, 2023

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Celia Loudia

By Emmanuel Kodwo Mensah, Senior Associate Researcher, Includovate and a member of the Uganda Ministry of Health’s Technical Working Group on Male Engagement 

Male Elders at Akiriket – the Elder’s Shrine – in Lokomit Village, Karamoja, Uganda
Male Elders at Akiriket – the Elder’s Shrine – in Lokomit Village, Karamoja, Uganda © Emmanuel Kodwo Mensah

 “Achieving gender equality is recognised as a societal responsibility that concerns and should fully engage men and as well as women and girls and requires partnerships between women and men”.

Commission on the Status of Women Forty-eighth Session

Introduction

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) has long been considered a ‘female issue’. But since men and boys are the key perpetrators of violence, engaging them in prevention and elimination strategies is crucial. In this blog Emmanuel Kodwo Mensah explores the current framework and thinking around VAWG, arguing that boys and men can be key allies and agents of change, helping to secure the safety of girls and women, and progress gender equality.

Boys and men commit the majority of violent acts against girls and women (VAGW), with physical, sexual, emotional, and economic abuse occurring both at home and in public spaces. Globally, nearly one in three women (30%) aged 15 and above – or around 736 million women – will experience physical or sexual assault at some point in their lives. Husbands and intimate partners, both current and previous, commit the majority of violent acts against women, with 26% of women (aged 15 -49) worldwide (640 million) experiencing intimate partner abuse in 2018 (WHO, 2021).

Women in low- and lower-middle-income nations are more likely to experience violence than women in richer nations. In 2021, WHO estimated that 37% per cent of women (aged 15 to 49) from the “least developed countries” will experience physical or sexual abuse from an intimate partner at some point in their lives, with 22% of women reporting such abuse in the previous year – well above the global average of 13%. 

To date, however, many programmes seeking to prevent and eliminate VAGW have not comprehensively involved men and boys, who remained on the periphery of many initiatives and interventions. For instance, in the past years, men and boys worldwide have often been considered as ad hoc in violence intervention. Yet, involving men and boys in prevention and elimination strategies, plans and processes is key to changing the existing power dynamics, gender roles, norms, and values that perpetuate VAGW. 

Why Work with Men and Boys?

Violence against women and girls was long considered a ‘female issue’. Yet in the past decades, the UN has repeatedly called on development partners to engage boys and men in gender equality initiatives and to work with them “to end all forms of discrimination against women and girls everywhere”. Statements from the Programme of Action of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) as well as the recommendation of the 48th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in 2004 are key to this discourse, with the ICPD Programme of Action critically recognising that men and boys are allies in progressing gender equality, not “obstacles” to its achievement. 

Partners like the UN Women, States Agency for International Development (USAID), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Promundo and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), have continued to emphasise the need to work with boys and men to end violence against girls and women and progress gender equality. For example, the UN Women’s HeForShe campaign encourages men and boys to take action to end gender-based violence. Also, UNFPA is engaging men and boys to shift damaging attitudes and further gender equality as well as end GBV in Mozambique and Viet Nam. 

Key reasons to work with men to end VAWG

In Uganda – where I live – an estimated 56% of women experience physical violence by the age of 15 years, with 28% of women (aged 15 to 49) experiencing sexual violence (UBOS, 2016). More than half of women in Uganda who have been married have experienced spousal abuse – sexual, physical or emotional – from their current or former partner (ibid). Of these women 39% have been injured through arm twisting, hair-pulling, dragging on the ground, beating, kicking or attacks with weapons such as guns and knives (ibid). To end VAWG in Uganda as elsewhere, we must comprehensively understand the perpetrators’ attitudes, behaviours, identities, and relations as well as socially sanctioned norms, beliefs and expectations.   

In many societies, boys absorb toxic misconceptions around “masculinity” and “manliness” that harm girls and women. These may include gender norms that rank men above women, give greater privileges and freedom to boys and men, and naturalise men’s dominance over women. Boys may receive mixed messages (from both media and peers) about masculinity, including the expected behaviours of “real men”. Such learned ideas about masculinity can reinforce inequalities, shaping boys and men’s attitudes, beliefs and behaviours in relation to violence, and encourage toxic patterns, ideas and power structures that infect individuals, families, relationships, communities, and societies. Such norms, as suggested by several studies (Greig, 2017; Heise, 2012; Heise, 2006), normalise male superiority, control, and decision-making power and – in many cases – violence. 

Working with boys and men can help create conducive spaces to confront patriarchal and toxic notions of masculinity – the root cause of gender inequality. In such safe spaces, it is possible to explore negative gender and social norms, deconstruct patriarchal ideologies, and promote more positive ideas about masculinity by modelling alternative attitudes and better relationships (Greig, 2017). 

Violence against women and girls was long considered a ‘female issue’. However, in recent years it’s increasingly considered as a social justice issue, since changing the behaviours that lead to violence are crucial to addressing and progressing gender equality. It’s also worth noting that working with males to challenge gender inequalities can improve not only the wellbeing of girls and women, but boys and men. Boys and men benefit from being actively engaged and involved in the prevention of VAGW initiatives, with research suggesting improved personal well-being, mental health, and relationships, as well as reductions in the number of men imprisoned (Connell, 2003).

Conclusion

Ban Ki-moon, the eighth Secretary-General of the United Nations, stated in 2010 that “achieving gender equality requires the engagement of women and men, girls, and boys. It is everyone’s responsibility”. As the global community works towards “ending all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere” (Sustainable Development Goals 5, Target 5.1), it will be critical to escalate and expand our work – as researchers, policymakers and programmers – with boys and men. In the next blog, I will unpack a comprehensive package of strategies that helps boys and men to unlearn and be empowered with the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour necessary to ensure gender equality and respect for the rights of women and girls.

 

Talk to us!

Do you have an experience of engaging boys and men in ending violence against girls and women? What were your experiences, results and lessons learnt? Please drop us a comment – we’d love to hear from you.

 

References 

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