Male allies: notes on the research

Male allies are men who act to challenge patriarchal inequalities. Male allies ideally take everyday action to challenge sexist behaviours and relations, act in solidarity with women, and hold themselves accountable for striving to meet a gender-equitable standard.

This article summarises some of the research on allies, covering: 

  • The advantages men have as advocates for gender equality
  • Factors that discourage or lessen male engagement and factors that encourage or increase male engagement.

The advantages men have as advocates for gender equality

Men may have some distinct advantages over women as gender equity and violence prevention advocates in workplaces, because of both the perceptions of them as advocates and their organisational positions.

Studies of gender equality campaigns find that male advocates are more likely than female advocates to be seen as credible and selfless in challenging sexism, are evaluated more positively as objective rather than self-interested, receive fewer negative responses when they point out gender bias and prejudice, and are listened to more closely (Ashcraft, DuBow, Eger, Blithe, & Sevier, 2013; Drury & Kaiser, 2014; Nash, Grant, Moore, & Winzenberg, 2021, p. 4; Patton & Bondi, 2015). For example, in a study of high-level executives’ effectiveness in advocating for gender equity, because of their membership and status within the male-dominated establishment, male executives were seen as more able to take on leadership roles in championing gender equity and with little personal or professional cost (although this was not necessarily matched by action) (de Vries, 2015). Thus, “it costs men less social capital than women to confront sexism, and men will likely receive less backlash than women who challenge the same behaviors” (Madsen, Townsend, & Scribner, 2020, p. 242).

Male audiences in particular may listen more readily to male advocates advocating gender equity than female ones (Drury & Kaiser, 2014; Hardacre & Subašic, 2018; Williams, Testa, Britzman, & Hibbing, 2021). An Australian study among university students found that messages framing gender equality as an issue for both men and women increase men’s intentions to take collective action, compared to when gender inequality is framed as primarily concerning women, but this effect occurs primarily where the source of the message is male (Subašic et al., 2018). Experimental studies find that particularly for people most likely to avoid messages from women about gender equity, the same messages from men lead to more openness to them (Williams et al., 2021)

Male allies also appear to have distinctive influences in workplaces compared to female allies. A US study found that male allies are uniquely helpful in reducing the negative effects of underrepresentation among women. The visible presence of an equality-supportive male ally reduced women’s anticipated isolation and workplace hostility and increased their anticipated support, respect, and gender-equality norms, and these effects were stronger than for the presence of a female ally (Moser & Branscombe, 2021).

A further advantage some men have is organisational power. In organisations, men typically have greater social capital and organisational power than women, and thus are more able to make change (Madsen et al., 2020).

There are signs of support for men’s roles in advocating for gender equality and ending violence against women, although also resentment: 

  • In a 2020 survey in Australia, just under 80% of people agree that “There are things that all men can do to help prevent violence against women,” and only 4% disagreed (Flood, 2020).
  • In a 2018 survey of attendees at the 2018 Simmons Leadership Conferences in Boston and Dublin, 97% agreed that men should be involved in addressing gender equity in the workplace (and, also encouragingly, close to 75% said that there are individual men in their current organizations who have acted as allies) (Blake-Beard et al., 2019).
  • On the other hand, in a 2025 Ipsos survey, 42% of people in Australia – 55% of men and 29% of women – agreed that “Men are being expected to do too much to support equality”  (Ipsos, 2025). 

Men who act as allies to women, behave in gender-equitable ways, or do not conform to stereotypical masculine expectations also may face negative perceptions: 

  • Gender-equitable men may suffer stigma-by-association because of their perceived alignment with women, the low-status group (Rudman, Mescher, & Moss-Racusin, 2013).
  • Men seen as less self-promoting and more collaborative and power-sharing may be evaluated by both men and women as less competent and less masculine (Bosak, Kulich, Rudman, & Kinahan, 2018).
  • Women may have feminist-based concerns about male allies:
    • Male allies may be regarded by some women as driven by questionable motives, such as a self-serving desire for political power (Kark, 2018, p. 8). Women may view men who advocate for gender equity with scepticism and cynicism, informed by negative experiences and perceptions of the ‘pedestal effect’ – the disproproportionate status and treatment given to male supporters of feminism – and of ‘fake male feminists’ (Johnson & Smith, 2018).
    • Some women may resist what they perceive as a paternalistic effort by men to take over efforts at change (Blake-Beard et al., 2019, p. 5; Shapiro et al., 2022), which men are perceived as acting as “knights in shining armour” (Kark, 2018, p. 7).
    • Women may feel that men cannot fully understand women and the issues that affect their working lives, such as sexual harassment or pregnancy (Kark, 2018, p. 8).
  • On the other hand, women may also have non- and anti-feminist concerns. They may resist male efforts to support gender equity because they reject the difficult conclusion that as women they are members of a low power, disadvantaged group (Kark, 2018, p. 7; Shapiro et al., 2022).

Factors that discourage or encourage male engagement

Various factors have been found to shape men’s engagement in allyship for gender equality, including:

  • Personal and professional experiences
  • Knowledge and attitudes regarding sexism and gender inequalities
  • A sense of personal agency
  • The organisational climate

Personal and professional experiences

Both personal and professional experiences can shape men’s pathways to allyship. A US study among male allies in workplaces, for example, found that formative professional experiences included having had female bosses, mentors, or colleagues and so seeing models of effective, successful women leaders and/or hearing or witnessing bias against them; learning about inequalities (through attending workshops on bias or witnessing biases in action); having aware leaders (who raised awareness and required diverse candidates); and witnessing gender bias (Ashcraft et al., 2013). Similarly, a second US study among men working to lessen gender disparities in their organizations or communities identified having female mentors as an important precursor, including providing them with opportunities to learn about gender bias and to be challenged by women (Prime & Moss-Racusin, 2009).

Formative personal experiences in the first US study above included men having a minority experience themselves; family experiences such as learning about women’s experiences from wives and partners and watching their wives struggle with work-life decisions; and being influenced by mothers or sisters (Ashcraft et al., 2013).

Knowledge and attitudes

A consistent finding in workplaces is that men are less aware than women of workplace gender inequalities and more likely to perceive their workplaces as fair, equitable and based on merit (Drury & Kaiser, 2014). 

This is not surprising given the wider gender gap in attitudes. Men’s attitudes to gender are consistently less progressive than women’s (Flood, 2015). Men are less likely than women to agree that sexism against women is extensive and systematic, less supportive of principles of gender equality, and more likely to perceive that men are being neglected or even disadvantaged by gender equality measures (Coumarelos et al., 2023; Evans, Haussegger, Halupka, & Rowe, 2018; Flood, 2020; Ipsos, 2025).. Focusing on young people, young men are less likely than young women to recognise gender inequalities and sexism, more likely to endorse male dominance of relationships and families, more likely to have violence-supportive attitudes, and less aware even of the constraints of masculinity on men themselves (Evans et al., 2018; Harris, Honey, Webster, Diemer, & Politoff, 2015; Jones, Cox, Fisch-Friedman, & Vandermaas-Peeler, 2018; Politoff et al., 2019, p. 22).

This gender gap also is visible in perceptions of gender and gender equality in workplaces in particular. In Australia for example:

  • In a survey of 2,122 people aged 16 and above, 41% of men and 23% of women agreed that “Political correctness gives women an advantage in the workplace” (Evans et al., 2018).
  • Support for diversity and inclusion action is higher among men than women, according to a 2023-24 survey, with 81% of women and 73% of men supporting D&I action (Diversity Council of Australia, 2024). While overall men’s support for workplace D&I has risen, younger men’s (under 30) support continues to decline, dropping from 77% in 2019 to 69% in 2023.

Men’s involvement in advocacy for gender equity can be motivated by values and ethical orientations: a moral or ethical imperative to to act fairly to all people or to support fairness and inclusion at work (Ashcraft et al., 2013). In a US study among 35 male allies for gender equity, an important antecedent was having a strong sense of fair play (Prime & Moss-Racusin, 2009). 

Men may also support diversity and inclusion in workplaces for more pragmatic, ‘business case’ motivations, such as to better reach diverse customer bases, fill talent needs, or achieve greater diversity of thought and innovation (Ashcraft et al., 2013).

Among men in general, support for diversity efforts is discouraged by apathy, lack of awareness, and lack of a clear rationale (Ashcraft et al., 2013). Many men do not see how workplace gender inequality explicitly applies to them or is relevant to them, and many feel that they have nothing substantively to contribute to the conversation (Windsor & Thies, 2021, p. 503). A zero-sum perspective – the belief that reduced discrimination against women directly corresponds to increased discrimination against men – inhibits men’s support for gender equality (Ruthig, Kehn, Gamblin, Vanderzanden, & Jones, 2017). Then, among the men who have an intellectual support for diversity initiatives, active involvement can be discouraged by fear or discomfort or the perception that the problem is too large (Ashcraft et al., 2013).

Male defiance of stereotypical gender norms can feed into greater awareness of workplace gender inequalities. This was visible in a US study based on interviews with 35 men actively working to decrease gender disparities in their organizations or communities and a survey of 178 male business people. Male allies here did not ‘avoid all things feminine’, e.g. expressing admiration for female co-workers; showed a strong concern for and devotion to helping others, in contrast to the masculine norm of ‘being a winner’; and felt a weaker sense of camaraderie with male peers at work (Prime & Moss-Racusin, 2009). Men who experience gender norms as a restrictive barrier in their own lives may be more likely to view these norms as a barrier for women as well.

Personal agency

Men’s willingness or ability to intervene is shaped in part by their personal agency:

On a personal level, men are more likely to intervene if they feel a sense of commitment or responsibility to challenge gender inequality and interrupt gender discrimination, feeling of personal responsibility to interrupt gender discrimination, feel confident to directly and effectively address the issue, are aware of how their efforts can make a difference, and are invested in having impact for the common good (Catalyst, 2020).

Organisational climate 

An important influence on men’s willingness or ability to intervene in workplace sexism is the organisational climate, according to US research. Men are less likely to intervene if they perceive the organisational climate as more silencing, combative and impervious to change, according to a Canadian study involving a survey among 1,493 men in full-time work and interviews with 27 men who were engaged in gender-equity causes in the workplace (Catalyst, 2020). 

Men are less likely to intervene in workplace sexism if they perceive an organisational climate of silencing and fear, and a combative masculine culture based on showing no weakness, strength and stamina, putting work first, and a ‘dog eat dog’ mentality. The Catalyst research found that general organisational conditions involving stereotypical masculine norms and behaviours perpetuated sexism and inhibited men from confronting it. These included male assumptions that the advancement of women is a threat to their professional status, stereotypically male practices that can exclude and ‘other’ women and some men, the normalization of a traditional masculine lifestyle of male breadwinning and female home-making, aggressive and intense work conditions, and “boys’ club” cultures (Catalyst, 2020).

The extent of men’s allyship

Men may have inflated perceptions of their and other men’s involvements in workplace allyship relative to women’s. Just as men and women have differing perceptions of the extent of gender inequalities in workplaces, they have differing perceptions of men’s involvement in addressing these. For example;

  • In a study in corporate workplaces in the USA, men were twice as likely as women to see men as at the more active ends of the allyship continuum: as either ‘active’ (well-informed and willing to engage women) or ‘advocates’ (visible in supporting women and encouraging others to do the same). Twice as many men and women reported seeing men taking actions to be allies to women (Integrating Women Leaders Foundation, 2022).
  • Research by Equimundo (previously Promundo) (2019) on allyship found that 77% of men reported they were doing “everything they can” to support gender equality, but only 41% of women agreed.

In addition, men’s preferred strategies for advancing violence prevention and gender equality in organisations may differ from women’s. For example, a US survey regarding behaviours among men that had advanced the professional development and advancement of women found differences between men and women in the strategies they emphasised (Madsen et al., 2020).

When men do involve themelves in organised allyship efforts, their own practice may be limited in some ways. For example;

  • In a qualitative study among male university staff involved in an initiative intended to encourage gender equality in STEMM and higher education and research, men did not necessarily reflect on their own practices related to gender, and found it difficult to recognise privilege, in part because of their own lack of experience of discrimination (Nash et al., 2021).
  • In work with senior male allies in a university’s executive education programs, “many were resistant to even acknowledging their current position of power arising from their advantaged position in senior leadership and/or their advantaged social identity position of being male”  (Shapiro et al., 2022, p. 2).

Nevertheless, there are a wide range of productive ways in which men can contribute as allies to workplace gender equality. See guides and other materials here.

References

Ashcraft, C., DuBow, W., Eger, E., Blithe, S., & Sevier, B. (2013). Male advocates and allies: Promoting gender diversity in technology workplaces. 

Blake-Beard, S., van Dam, E., Rivera-Beckstrom, M. E. P., Gao, L., Shapiro, M., O’Neill, R., & Ingols, C. (2019). Women’s experiences with ‘male allies’. Center for Gender in Organisations (Simmons University). 

Bosak, J., Kulich, C., Rudman, L., & Kinahan, M. (2018). Be an advocate for others, unless you are a man: Backlash against gender-atypical male job candidates. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 19(1), 156-165. https://doi.org/10.1037/men0000085

Catalyst. (2020). Interrupting Sexism at Work: What Drives Men to Respond Directly or Do Nothing. https://www.catalyst.org/reports/interrupting-sexism-workplace-men/

Coumarelos, C., Weeks, N., Bernstein, S., Roberts, N., Honey, N., Minter, K., & Carlisle, E. (2023). Attitudes matter: The 2021 National Community Attitudes towards Violence against Women Survey (NCAS), Findings for Australia. 

de Vries, J. A. (2015). Champions of gender equality: female and male executives as leaders of gender change. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 34(1), 21-36. https://doi.org/doi:10.1108/EDI-05-2013-0031

Diversity Council of Australia. (2024). Inclusion @ Work Index 2023-2024. 

Drury, B. J., & Kaiser, C. R. (2014). Allies against sexism: The role of men in confronting sexism. Journal of Social Issues, 70(4), 637-652. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12083

Evans, M., Haussegger, V., Halupka, M., & Rowe, P. (2018). From Girls to Men: social attitudes to gender equality issues in Australia. 50/50 by 2030 Foundation (University of Canberra). 

Flood, M. (2015). Men and Gender Equality. In M. Flood & R. Howson (Eds.), Engaging Men in Building Gender Equality. Ed M. Flood, with R. Howson, Cambridge Scholars Press, pp. (pp. 1-31). Cambridge Scholars Press. 

Flood, M. (2020). Masculinities and Health: Attitudes towards men and masculinities in Australia. 

Hardacre, S. L., & Subašic, E. (2018). Whose Issue Is It Anyway? The Effects of Leader Gender and Equality Message Framing on Men’s and Women’s Mobilization Toward Workplace Gender Equality. Frontiers in psychology, 9.

Harris, A., Honey, N., Webster, K., Diemer, K., & Politoff, V. (2015). Young Australians’ attitudes to violence against women: Findings from the 2013 National Community Attitudes towards Violence Against Women Survey for respondents 16–24 years. 

Integrating Women Leaders Foundation. (2022). State of Allyship-In-Action Benchmark Study: Topline results 2022. 

Ipsos. (2025). International Women’s Day 2025. 

Johnson, W. B., & Smith, D. G. (2018). How men can become better allies. https://hbr.org/2018/10/how-men-can-become-better-allies-to-women

Jones, R. P., Cox, D., Fisch-Friedman, M., & Vandermaas-Peeler, A. (2018). Diversity, Division, Discrimination: The State of Young America. 

Kark, R. (2018). Are we all in this together? challenges of men promoting gender balance (Center for Gender in Organizations Working Paper, Issue 23). 

Madsen, S. R., Townsend, A., & Scribner, R. T. (2020). Strategies That Male Allies Use to Advance Women in the Workplace. The Journal of Men’s Studies, 28(3), 239-259. https://doi.org/10.1177/1060826519883239

Moser, C. E., & Branscombe, N. R. (2021). Male Allies at Work: Gender-Equality Supportive Men Reduce Negative Underrepresentation Effects Among Women. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 0(0), 19485506211033748. https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506211033748

Nash, M., Grant, R., Moore, R., & Winzenberg, T. (2021). Male allyship in institutional STEMM gender equity initiatives. PLoS ONE, 16(3), e0248373. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0248373

Patton, L. D., & Bondi, S. (2015). Nice white men or social justice allies?: using critical race theory to examine how white male faculty and administrators engage in ally work. Race Ethnicity and Education, 18(4), 488-514. 

Politoff, V., Crabbe, M., Honey, N., Mannix, S., Mickle, J., Morgan, J., Parkes, A., Powell, A., Stubbs, J., & Ward, A. (2019). Young Australians’ attitudes to violence against women and gender equality: Findings from the 2017 National Community Attitudes towards Violence against Women Survey (NCAS) (ANROWS Insights, Issue. 

Prime, J., & Moss-Racusin, C. A. (2009). Engaging men in gender initiatives: What change agents need to know.

Promundo-US. (2019). So, You Want to be a Male Ally for Gender Equality? (And You Should): Results from a National Survey, and a Few Things You Should Know. 

Rudman, L. A., Mescher, K., & Moss-Racusin, C. A. (2013). Reactions to gender egalitarian men: Perceived feminization due to stigma-by-association. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 16(5), 572-599. 

Ruthig, J. C., Kehn, A., Gamblin, B. W., Vanderzanden, K., & Jones, K. (2017). When women’s gains equal men’s losses: Predicting a zero-sum perspective of gender status. Sex Roles, 76, 17-26. 

Shapiro, M., Rivera-Beckstrom, M., Ingols, C., Blake-Beard, S., Gao, L., O'Neill, R., & VanDam, E. (2022). What's Power Got to Do with It? Seeking Gender-Equity in Organizations through Male Ally Initiatives. Advancing Women in Leadership Journal, 41(1), 1-12. 

Subašic, E., Hardacre, S., Elton, B., Branscombe, N. R., Ryan, M. K., & Reynolds, K. J. (2018). “We for She”: Mobilising men and women to act in solidarity for gender equality. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 21(5), 707-724. 

Williams, T., Testa, P. F., Britzman, K., & Hibbing, M. V. (2021). Messengers Matter: Why Advancing Gender Equity Requires Male Allies. PS: Political Science & Politics, 54(3), 512-513. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096521000093

Windsor, L. C., & Thies, C. G. (2021). Mentorship: “Men in the middle” and their role as allies in addressing gender bias. PS: Political Science & Politics, 54(3), 502-504.