Political institutions around the world remain shaped by gender norms that influence expectations of leadership, authority, and power. These norms often reinforce patterns in which political leadership and decision making are associated with men and masculinity, shaping how political parties, parliaments, and other institutions operate and who is able to participate fully and lead in politics and public life.
Advancing gender inclusive democracy therefore requires not only increasing women’s political participation, but also examining how gender norms influence the behavior of male political leaders and the culture of political institutions. Because men continue to hold the majority of political power globally, engaging men and securing their commitment to gender equality is a necessary part of transformational change to a more inclusive politics. Male political leaders must be willing to reflect on power and privilege and to open political space not for women, but with them, so that leadership and decision making can become more inclusive and representative.
The resources below provide tools, research, and guidance for understanding and transforming the role of men and masculine gender norms in political leadership. They include training curricula for working directly with male political leaders, diagnostic tools that examine how gender norms shape political systems and institutions, and research exploring how masculinities influence governance, conflict, and peacebuilding.
National Democratic Institute Resources
Men, Power and Politics Program Guidance by Alan Greig and Caroline Hubbard (National Democratic Institute)
The Men, Power and Politics program guidance presents an approach for transforming the gender norms that underpin the gap in political empowerment between women and men. It provides facilitators and democracy practitioners with a curriculum and practical exercises to engage male political leaders, party members, and civil society actors in examining how gender norms and power shape political institutions and leadership. The original guidance supports implementation through in person workshops, while the online version adapts the same methodology and learning modules for virtual training and remote facilitation.
In person workshop guidance
https://www.ndi.org/sites/default/files/Men%2C%20Power%20and%20Politics%20Program%20Guidance%2011_20_2020%206.pdf
Online workshop guidance
https://www.ndi.org/sites/default/files/Men%2C%20Power%20and%20Politics%20Online%20Program%20Guidance.pdf
Win With Women 21st Century Party Initiative (National Democratic Institute)
The 21st Century Party Initiative supports political parties to modernize their internal structures and leadership practices to become more inclusive and representative. Through diagnostic assessments and action planning tools, the initiative evaluates political party culture, including the views and behaviors of male party leaders toward women’s political participation. The assessments examine how patriarchal norms, power dynamics, and the use or tolerance of political violence can reinforce male dominance in party leadership and hinder women’s advancement.
Win With Women Methodology
Win with Women Assessment Tools
United States Agency for International Assistance Resources
Women’s Political Participation and Leadership Assessment Tool and Country Reports (USAID)
The Women’s Political Participation and Leadership assessment tool and accompanying country reports analyze the political, institutional, and socio cultural factors that shape women’s participation and leadership in politics. The framework includes desk research, politician surveys, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions with women and men in political parties, elected and appointed offices, civil society, academia, and the media. The assessment captures perspectives from male political leaders and stakeholders and examines how gender norms and expectations of masculinity influence attitudes, behaviors, and decision making regarding women’s participation and leadership.
https://www.gwdresources.org/
Masculinities, Political Power, and Institutions: Key Research
Research on masculinities and political institutions provides important insight into how gender norms shape political systems beyond formal rules and policies. This body of work highlights how informal institutions, male dominated networks, and expectations of leadership reinforce patterns of exclusion and influence who gains access to political power and decision making.
Masculinity and politics bibliography (XY Online)
A curated collection of research focused on men, masculinities, and formal political systems, including governance, political parties, and policymaking.
https://xyonline.net/books/bibliography/29-masculinity-and-politics-new
The role of masculinities and male dominated networks in corruption by Elin Bjarnegård (2018)
Examines how male dominated networks shape access to political power and sustain exclusionary systems through informal relationships and patronage.
https://xyonline.net/books/bibliography/29-masculinity-and-politics-new/i-men-masculinities-and-formal-politics
Gender, Informal Institutions and Political Recruitment: Explaining Male Dominance in Parliamentary Representation by Elin Bjarnegård (2013)
Explores how informal norms and practices influence candidate selection and political recruitment, helping explain persistent gender gaps in political leadership.
https://books.google.com/books/about/Gender_Informal_Institutions_and_Politic.html?id=SU36FqyITNAC
Who, Where and How? Informal institutions and the third generation of research on gendered dynamics in political recruitment by Elin Bjarnegård and Meryl Kenny (2017)
Analyzes how political recruitment processes are structured by gendered expectations, shaping who enters political life and under what conditions.
https://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1275711
Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present by Ruth Ben-Ghiat (2020)
Provides a historical and contemporary analysis of authoritarian leadership, highlighting how performances of masculinity are central to the consolidation and maintenance of political power.
https://books.google.com/books/about/Strongmen.html?id=tDbtDwAAQBAJ
Masculinity Restored? Putin’s Russia and Trump’s America (2020)
Examines how narratives of masculine restoration are used by political leaders to legitimize authority and mobilize support.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1536504220920189
Trumping Politics as Usual: Masculinity, Misogyny, and the 2016 Elections (2019)
Analyzes how gender norms and misogyny shape electoral dynamics and political discourse.
https://academic.oup.com/book/35189
Playing the Trump Card: Masculinity Threat and the U.S. 2016 Presidential Election (2018)
Provides empirical evidence on how perceived threats to masculinity influence political attitudes and voting behavior.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2378023117740699
OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights Resources
Sarajevo Tool for Engaging Male Politicians in Achieving Gender Equality in Politics
This publication provides guidance on how to inspire and strengthen the engagement of male politicians in promoting gender equality. It offers recommendations, examples of good practices, and practical resources to support efforts to engage men meaningfully in gender equality work and to build more equitable political institutions.
https://odihr.osce.org/odihr/586014
Sarajevo Recommendations on Engaging Male Politicians as Critical Actors for Gender Equality in Politics
The Sarajevo Recommendations outline practical actions that governments, parliaments, political parties, and civil society can take to engage male politicians as allies for gender equality. Recognizing that men remain overrepresented in political leadership positions, the recommendations emphasize the importance of their active engagement in promoting gender equality and transforming political institutions and decision making processes.
https://www.osce.org/sites/default/files/f/documents/7/1/568807_1.pdf
Engaging Men as Political Actors for Gender Equality
Efforts to advance gender inclusive democracy increasingly recognize that men, as the primary holders of political power, play a critical role in either maintaining or transforming gendered systems of inequality. Engaging male political leaders and actors is essential to shifting institutional cultures, opening political space, and promoting more inclusive and representative governance.
Engaging Men in Building Gender Equality by Michael Flood
Provides an overview of global approaches to engaging men in advancing gender equality, including key principles, challenges, and opportunities for working with men as allies in institutional and social change.
https://xyonline.net/content/men-building-gender-equality-guide-xys-content
Men’s roles in building a feminist future by Michael Flood
Outlines how men can contribute to feminist change efforts, including reflections on accountability, privilege, and the role of men in transforming gender norms and power structures.
https://xyonline.net/content/mens-roles-building-feminist-future
The Male Ally Countdown by Michael Kaufman
Offers practical guidance on how men can take concrete actions to support gender equality and challenge harmful norms in their daily lives and professional roles.
https://xyonline.net/content/male-ally-countdown
Violence Against Women in Politics and Public Life (VAWPP) Resources
Violence against women in politics and public life is increasingly recognized as a strategy used by male political leaders and actors to maintain patriarchal power structures in political bodies and systems, even when women’s prescriptive representation increases. Technology has exacerbated this violence by increasing the scale, speed, and anonymity of its reach. In addition, it has introduced new forms of violence that can be used to target women in politics in order to stop them from participating or to shape their behavior while in office. Gender disinformation online is also an increasingly common tool used by state actors and foreign malign actors to leverage patriarchal gender norms in order to influence political processes, policy debates, and peace negotiations. As such, resources to understand, prevent, and respond to violence against women in politics and public life, including technology facilitated gender based violence targeting women in politics and public life, are essential.
Not the Cost Stopping Violence Against Women in Politics
The Not the Cost initiative is a global effort to raise awareness of violence against women in politics and support political institutions, civil society organizations, and governments to address the problem. The initiative provides research, tools, and policy guidance on identifying, documenting, preventing, and responding to violence targeting women political leaders, candidates, activists, and voters.
https://www.ndi.org/sites/default/files/NTC%202021%20ENGLISH%20FINAL.pdf
Votes Without Violence Toolkit
The Votes Without Violence Toolkit provides guidance for political parties, civil society organizations, and election stakeholders to prevent and respond to violence during electoral processes. The toolkit examines how political competition, gender norms, and power dynamics can contribute to violence in elections and offers practical strategies to promote peaceful participation and strengthen accountability within political institutions. It includes tools to help political actors identify risks, develop codes of conduct, and implement measures that discourage intimidation, harassment, and violence in political life.
https://www.voteswithoutviolence.org/sites/default/files/media/file/2023/12/Votes-Without-Violence-Toolkit.pdf
Combatting Technology Facilitated Gender Based Violence in Politics
This Learning Digest examines the prevalence of gender-based violence faced by women in politics and public life, including the ways in which technology has intensified these threats by enabling abuse to spread more rapidly and at greater scale. It also explores emerging forms of technology-facilitated gender-based violence targeting women in political and public roles, and highlights innovations and strategies being developed to prevent and respond to these harms.
https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USAIDHQ/bulletins/34c7e57
Violence Against Women in Politics Research Hub (Mona Lena Krook)
This research hub brings together global academic research, publications, and data on violence against women in politics. The site provides access to key publications, datasets, and conceptual frameworks that examine how violence is used to maintain gendered power hierarchies in political institutions.
https://www.vawpolitics.org/
Men, Masculinities, and Violence Prevention
Addressing violence against women in politics and public life requires not only responding to harm, but also transforming the gender norms and power dynamics that enable it. Research and practice increasingly emphasize the importance of engaging men and boys in prevention efforts, including challenging harmful norms of masculinity and promoting accountability within political and social institutions. Doing this work with political men can build on and reflect efforts to address gender based violence outside of politics and public life as well.
Anti violence education and activism bibliography (XY Online)
A curated collection of research and evaluations on engaging men in violence prevention, including systematic reviews and evidence on what works to change attitudes and behaviors.
https://xyonline.net/books/bibliography/27-violence-and-responses-violence/t-mens-anti-violence-education-and-activism
Violence against women is always a men’s issue by Michael Flood
A foundational piece emphasizing that preventing violence against women requires engaging men as part of the solution and addressing the gender norms that underpin violence.
https://xyonline.net/content/violence-against-women-mens-issue
Where Men Stand: Men’s roles in ending violence against women by Michael Flood
Explores men’s attitudes toward violence against women and identifies opportunities for engaging men in prevention and advocacy efforts.
https://xyonline.net/content/where-men-stand-mens-roles-ending-violence-against-women
Men Speak Up: A toolkit for action in men’s daily lives by Michael Flood
Provides practical tools and strategies for men to challenge violence supportive norms and take action in everyday contexts.
https://xyonline.net/content/men-speak-toolkit-action-mens-daily-lives
The Macho Paradox by Jackson Katz
Examines how cultural norms of masculinity contribute to violence and outlines strategies for engaging men in prevention and social change.
https://xyonline.net/sites/xyonline.net/files/2019-09/Katz%2C%20The%20Macho%20Paradox%20-%20Why%20Some%20Men%20Hurt%20Women%20and%20How%20All%20Men%20Can%20Help%20%282006%29.pdf
Engaging men in violence prevention: Key resources
A wide-ranging collection of materials, including short articles and speeches, reports, videos, and much more.
https://xyonline.net/content/engaging-men-violence-prevention-key-resources
Additional Resources on Working with Men and Boys
Work with boys and young men plays an important role in shaping future political cultures and leadership norms. These resources provide insight into how gender norms are formed early and how interventions can support more equitable attitudes, behaviors, and pathways into public life.
Working with boys and men
A collection of resources for working with boys and men, including guides, curricula, and more
https://xyonline.net/category/article-content/working-boys-and-men
Working with boys and young men bibliography (XY Online)
A bibliography of research and programmatic resources focused on engaging boys and young men in gender equality, education, and social norm change.
https://xyonline.net/books/bibliography/13-working-boys-and-young-men
Working with men bibliography (XY Online)
A bibliography of resources on engaging adult men in gender equality efforts across sectors, including community, institutional, and policy contexts.
https://xyonline.net/books/bibliography/14-working-men
Credit
This resource page was created by Caroline Hubbard, a gender and democracy practitioner with more than two decades of experience working with political parties, parliaments and electoral processes to advance inclusive democracies. She previously served as Senior Gender Advisor and Gender Team Director in USAID's Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance and earlier as Senior Gender Advisor and Deputy Director for Gender, Women and Democracy at the National Democratic Institute.