Growing up

To improve the lives of women and girls in our society, men’s and boys’ lives must change as well. For over three decades, the mission of the Ms. Foundation for Women has been to support the efforts of women and girls to govern their own lives and influence the world around them. This work has been done with the awareness that the lives and futures of women and girls are interwoven with those of men and boys, and that the gender order in our society has harmful effects on all members of the human community.

The aim of the study was to investigate how systemic factors affect the educational performance and outcomes of boys and how these can be addressed in the school context. These systemic factors include family, school and community environments, peer culture, student-teacher relationships, and teacher classroom practices. The research seeks to understand how these variables affect the educational experiences and achievement of boys and girls from different socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds and to determine which school and classroom strategies ensure the best academic and social outcomes for all students.

This is the first part of a multi-part post. Here are the links to the rest of the series: Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

There was another post made here a couple of weeks or so ago that a good friend noted was potentially transphobic, or, at least, not very welcoming of trans visitors to my blog. I agreed with her and pulled the post. I revised it so much it became something else. What follows is that something else. (I sometimes use the word "they" or "them" as synonymous with "she/he/neither" and "her/him/neither", respectively.)

What can be done to change the social norms that drive the behaviors of men and boys that leave girls vulnerable? The vulnerabilities and disadvantages that girls face emerge directly out of social constructions of gender – identities, attributes, socially expected roles and the social structures set up to enforce those roles. … In bringing men and boys into the question, we want to make it clear that this is not to propose an either-or argument, of whether we should devote more time and resources to engaging men and boys in redressing gender inequalities versus working directly with girls to protect and empower them. Both must happen.

The promising case stories presented in this report show insights of some powerful program initiatives carried out in Ethiopia, India, Nicaragua, South Africa and Sweden regarding working with boys and young men to end violence against girls and boys. Moreover, the key challenges and difficulties boys and men meet when they want to change their behaviour and attitudes and fight inequalities are also briefly presented in the report.