Posted Date: May 20, 2002
CAW Breakfast Focuses on Male Perspectives on Gender Roles and Relations
CAW Breakfast Focuses on Male Perspectives on Gender Roles and Relations
The annual InterAction Commission on the Advancement of Women (CAW) breakfast on June 4 had a distinctly different look this year—all of the panelists were male presenters. The session, Men on the Cutting Edge of Development: Voices from Africa and the Americas, was the culmination of a six-month pioneering action research initiative sponsored by CAW, in partnership with male colleagues in Ghana, Kenya, and the United States. Sam Worthington, president of Childreach/Plan International and CAW co-chair, aptly noted that the research initiative has been about “all of us getting outside our comfort zones.”
Earlier this year, all-male workshops and focus groups were convened in the three focus countries to give voice to men’s perspectives on gender roles and relations, gender and culture, their participation in gender equity efforts, and on the value men can add to the gender debate. The three coordinators of the focus groups shared the outcomes during the breakfast session. The coordinators included: Wilbert Tengey, African Center for Human Development and Gender Development Institute/Ghana; Milton Obote Joshua, Center for Women’s Studies and Gender Analysis, Egerton University/Kenya; and Mark Lancaster, Ministry of Money and Heifer Project International Board of Directors/US.
Wilbert Tengey’s report emphasized that men have their own gender issues and that gender equity can benefit both men and women. For example, men in the Ghana workshop expressed a desire to have a say in how children are brought up, to share in the responsibility at home, and to be able to talk freely with female counterparts. Tengey spoke about how his own life has become better since he has embraced a commitment to gender equity, noting that “there’s more peace at home and more sharing with the children, and I’m more comfortable at work.” The Ghanaian participants also addressed women’s roles in society. As a participant stated in one of the “video postcards” shown at the session, “women’s contributions have been blocked and therefore development is blocked.”
In the US focus groups, Mark Lancaster reflected that men seemed more ambivalent about discussing gender equity than in the Ghanaian context. Men mentioned few places where “just men” have a safe place to talk about issues. Another dynamic mentioned was the need to be one of the “good guys” and not admit hesitation or disagreement about aspects of a gender equity approach. As in Ghana, the men did perceive benefits for themselves in achieving gender equity, including the potential for working less than full time, a better connection to their children, and the notion that family and organizational decisions are better if made with women.
A final question was posed in the US focus groups: “What has to happen for women and men to be equal partners in the pursuit of gender equity?” Three factors emerged from the discussions: moving away from “helping” women to men owning their own issues around equitable relationships; moving away from “WID” [Women in Development] to an approach more inclusive of men; and moving away from men being involved only in programmatic issues to broader organizational gender equity issues.
For Milton Obote Joshua, “gender means dancing together.” This metaphor captures Kenya workshop participants’ idea of gender equity as a mutually responsive and flowing relationship of co-equals. To achieve gender equity, Milton stressed “the question of gender is the question of one staking claim to the world of power.” He cited how a Kenyan workshop participant admitted, “I get scared when my wife says, ‘We have to talk.’” Despite such feelings, the Kenyan men recognized that gender relations are changing. One noted, “Before, a picture of a man carrying a child would be considered news. Not anymore.” Milton observed that there are behaviors between both women and men that undermine gender equity efforts. Women may show “insincerity in gender equity.” For example, one of the Kenyan participants recounted: “My sister-in-law found me sick, and asked, ‘Why are you in bed with the flu? That’s a woman’s disease!’” Among men, Milton identified a “convenient posturing” or contradiction between words and actual commitment. A Kenyan participant summed this up as follows: “Our male leaders know about gender, but they don’t believe in it.”
Following the presentations, the 130 CAW breakfast participants divided into small groups to consider: “What three things can your organization do to foster collaboration between men and women in support for gender equity in programs and in your organization?” Highlights of the small group responses include: structural changes in organizational senior leadership; accountability for gender equity in performance appraisals; men’s discussion groups; male-female dialogues in organizations; giving men a chance, not being overly critical; using religious texts to promote gender equity; adopting/implementing policies that support work-family balance; encouraging male leadership on gender issues; promoting awareness generation for men and economic empowerment for women; and creating institutional structures to monitor and give incentives.”
For all this to happen, Tengey stressed in closing that gender equity “has to become a conviction, an addiction. You have to internalize it.”
The CAW is preparing an extensive report on the male focus groups and workshops and on the Forum presentations. For a copy, contact Julie Montgomery at InterAction at 202- 667-8227, ext. 152 or email, jmontgom@interaction.org.
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