Engaging Men in Gender Equality (summary)

Jan Joel C. Atanacio                                        Dr. Elizabeth Uy Eviota, Ph.D.

SA 113                                                        Report – Gender Inequality

Engaging Men in Gender Equality

        This article by Emily Esplen discusses a certain take on the topic of gender equality and gender development with the involvement of men in the picture not wholly as enemies but rather as allies in these endeavors.

Firstly, the article begins by trying to answer the question of why is it that we have to involve men gender and development work. At the beginning of the paper it is discussed that there have been apprehensions and resistance as to the involvement of men in gender and development work fear the dilution of the feminist agenda and that the empowerment initiatives women fight for go back to the hands of men. However, without engaging men, these development interventions may be limited in terms of effectiveness and could also be the cause of greater gender inequality. As stated in the article, “many initiatives continue to focus on women rather than trying to transform the unequal gender relations which drive and maintain women’s subordination”. There has also been limited acknowledgement to the powerlessness experienced by some men. These factors limit the possibilities for alliances between men and women and closes off opportunities for other changes. The author implies that we have to move beyond seeing gender as a woman’s issue and look at it in terms of relations of power and powerlessness.

Men’s power fluctuates in which it depends on the environment and culture he is presented and moves about. As he moves about in the same environment, social pressures of masculinity are most often present and these cause the problem. For instance, as mentioned in the article “Prescribed masculine traits, such as the notion that men’s sexual needs are uncontrollable or that men should have multiple sexual partners, also have serious consequences for men’s health, placing them – and thus their partners – at high risk of HIV infection.” These dominant masculine norms also contribute to gender inequality as it further supports how men should act as being the dominant persona in the scene. What is needed to be done is to support men to challenge these strict gender divisions at home, at work, and in the community. Certain programs should help men to understand the oppressive effects of gender inequality on women and men. They also have to take full responsibility of the privileges they have in ways women cannot.