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The Australian organisation ManCave released an open letter on May 14, titled “An open letter to the sector working with men and boys, in healthy masculinities, gender equity, and the prevention of violence”. Professsor Steven Roberts and colleagues responded to this in a Substack post.

In the field of violence prevention work with men and boys, there is growing interest in engaging men as fathers. Fatherhood is identified as a key entry point that can be strategically leveraged to support male engagement, both during men’s transition to parenthood and throughout their involvements as parents and caregivers.

Four streams of work have converged to shape interest in engaging men as fathers in the prevention of domestic and sexual violence: 

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: 

I must have been about ten or eleven the first time I witnessed a man cry and then look ashamed of himself.

Parenting programs have been identified as a promising strategy to strengthen parenting skills; increase men’s participation in caregiving; improve the quality of family relationships, health, and well-being; and prevent violence against children. Yet, most parenting programs primarily reach mothers and female caregivers, but fathers and male caregivers also have the power to transform their children’s lives.

It was a smoko break on a job site just outside town. Dust in the air, steel frames going up, utes parked in a rough line like they had been dropped there by habit more than design.

A few of the boys were sitting on upturned buckets, boots off, socks half rolled, mugs of tea going lukewarm. Good men, solid workers, the kind who turn up early and stay late without making a fuss.

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.

In countries across the world, there are growing numbers of men taking action to help end violence against women. 

And there are growing efforts to engage men and boys in prevention efforts: as participants in education programs, as targets of social marketing campaigns, as activists and advocates, and as leaders and policy makers.