MEGEN activists share their personal experiences as individuals and as Changemakers. While writing their stories, the activists were asked to reflect on their own change processes: what sparked their activism around gender and violence? And how has the MEGEN platform been helpful in this process? The publication also includes short briefs on the work of the project, highlighting the challenges, successes and lessons learnt in different program areas. In the process of developing this booklet, many people have been of great help; the dedicated MEGEN activists who shared some of their life experiences in their own writing, the then MEGEN Project Coordinator Kennedy Odhiambo Otina and other FEMNET staff members and MEGEN teams.
Articles
Rape Myth-Busters is a program for young men developed in South Australia in 1998. It invites young men in Year 9 and above to examine their induction into existing and predominant practices of masculinity. The program recognises that many such practices result in violent and abusive behaviour, such as rape, and are in direct contravention of democratic and social justice principles.
Violence has become a daily occurrence for some young men in Northern Ireland, according to a new report launched by the University of Ulster in June 2009.
And one in 10 teenagers admitted regularly carrying weapons, including knives, on the streets.
The report entitled ‘Stuck in the Middle’ was based on the opinions of 130 young men - aged between 13 and 16 - from different areas across Northern Ireland on their experiences of violence, conflict and safety.
The seven countries of the EC/UNFPA Initiative for Reproductive Health in Asia (RHI) have a combined population of more than 424 million. Whilst approximately half of the population is male, their influence in families, relationships and communities is dis-proportionally high. Certain traditions dictate that women are subjected to the decisions of men, pervading almost all areas of their lives. The realisation of this dominance – followed by an appropriate translation into RH programmes – is of vital importance in view of women’s control over their sexuality and reproductive health.
This publication is a companion to Instituto Promundo's Young Men and HIV Prevention: A toolkit for action. It offers a series of tools adapted from various research for young men's reproductive health and HIV/AIDS prevention needs, from exploring gender identities in workshops to checklists for clinics.
This literature review on men, gender and HIV and AIDS has been carried out in conjunction with a number of policy initiatives that Sonke Gender Justice Network has been involved in over the last 18 months. A growing body of evidence also suggests that men are far less likely than women to access HIV services including testing, treatment and other care and support services. Men’s under-utilisation of HIV services significantly undermines prevention and
While reproductive health is a concern for all men of all ages, the earliest part of the life course—adolescence and early adulthood—is of utmost importance. Promoting the sexual and reproductive health of young men is a keystone to enhancing their health overall, to reducing some of the major health risks they face, and to establishing habits that will protect them throughout their lives.
Patriarchal socialisation and hegemonic masculinity are unacknowledged, preventable causes of most health inequalities.
Indeed, the rights and well-being of the child are best served when relations between men and women in the household are based on mutual respect, equal rights and shared responsibilities. In line with this reflection and taking into account its past experience, UNICEF must broaden its research and programme focus to include men and boys as important actors in programmes of cooperation.
This background paper is part of an ongoing effort to better understand the role that men can play in the lives of children and women. Arguments for UNICEF’s support to activities focused on men and boys are discussed. This is supported by UNICEF’s previous and ongoing initiatives to involve men in development programmes for children and women as well as a general review of current literature.
For a moment my eyes turned away from the workshop participants and out through the windows of the small conference room and towards the Himalayas, north of Kathmandu. I was there, leading a workshop, largely the outgrowth of remarkable work of UNICEF and UNIFEM which, a year earlier, had brought together women and men from throughout South Asia to discuss the problem of violence against women and girls and, most importantly, to work together to find solutions.
As I turned back to the women and men in the group, it felt more familiar than different: women taking enormous chances – in some cases risking their lives – to fight the tide of violence against women and girls. Men who were just beginning to find their anti-patriarchal voices and to discover ways to work alongside women. And what pleasantly surprised me was the positive response to a series of ideas I presented about men’s violence: until then, I wasn’t entirely sure if they were mainly about the realities in North and South America and Europe – that is largely-Europeanized cultures – or whether they had a larger resonance. Here, then, is the kernel of this analysis: