Engage men, change them

Star Archive

In our society, men are overwhelmingly found as perpetrators in violence against women (VAW) cases. They are socialized to be violent, and this male violence produces and reproduces patriarchal norms and practices that ignore and even encourage men's violence against women. So to tackle male violence we need to reach out to them and involve them in policies and programmes. In addition, there are a 'silent' majority of men who are against any sort of VAW, and the number of men actively involved in promoting gender parity is ever increasing. A sensitized man can be a father, brother or husband who himself does not commit VAW and actively participate in eradicating VAW.
The MoWCA, with technical and financial support from UNFPA, has taken a well-timed initiative to involve young men and boys to self-reflect on gender violence and begin to change the social attitude of the next generation of men in Bangladesh. Primarily they are targeting young students and rural communities.
The initiative utilizes the Community Dialogue Facilitation Tool on Masculinities and issues related to violence against women and girls which was created in order to challenge traditional views on women's rights by focusing on self-reflection and teaching young men that gender violence and inequality is hurtful to both men and women as sometimes, young men do not want to engage in supposed masculine activities such as fighting and taunting, but are forced to do so in order to be seen as masculine. It allows young men to be themselves without feeling pressured from society and to speak out against gender violence.