Engaging Men for Gender Equality

Oct 29, 2021 | PRIO Centre on Gender, Peace and Security (PRIO GPS)
Online
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In recent years, there has been a growing interest in research and public discourse about how various conceptualizations of masculinity shape men's lives and about how to engage more men for gender equality in order to strengthen progress and counter existing backlash. However, the articulation of "engaging men", and assumptions of masculinity underlying discussions on men's engagement work, are often both vaguely formulated and filled with numerous tensions.

A concrete and highly relevant example of such ongoing debates is that of engaging men for the Women, Peace, and Security agenda (WPS). This includes arguments both for a) the need to enlist male allies when mobilizing other male senior leaders and when addressing negative hyper-masculine ideas, and for b) the need to visualize men's security situation within existing gender mainstreaming efforts. At the same time, engaging men can also be seen as implying that men and masculinity are currently not related to gender, i.e. that gender equals women, or that men are currently discriminated in WPS. Contributing to highlighting tensions and forwarding progressive discussions, this seminar aims to explore and discuss the meaning of men's engagement, and bring out tensions and ways forward as identifiable in how men and masculinity have been viewed and integrated thus far in the work for WPS.

Who: PRIO Centre on Gender, Peace and Security (PRIO GPS)

When: 29 October 2021

Where: PRIO, Hausmanns gate 3, Oslo