Engaging Men Globally: The Nature and Impact of Events Aimed at Engaging Men in Efforts to Eliminate Gender-Based Violence

Background and Purpose:

Engaging men and boys as partners or “allies” in eliminating gender-based violence (GBV) is an increasingly prevalent element of global efforts to end violence against women. However, research on the nature and impact of prevention efforts aimed at partnering with men have not kept pace with the proliferating and diverse range of programs and strategies that have emerged worldwide. The primary aim of this descriptive, exploratory study is to contribute to the documentation of the range of strategies and programming being implemented globally to involve men in ending gender-based violence.  More specifically, analyses described will 1) investigate the nature and content of, and prevention strategies embedded within prevention events attended by men; 2) characterize men’s perceptions of those events and their impact; and 3) compare findings by global region.

Methods: 

A trilingual (English, Spanish and French) online survey was administered for approximately six months. The anonymous survey assessed several domains, including how men heard about found their way to  events, the content and approach used in prevention events, the nature of men’s participation in events and men’s perceptions of the events’ impact. Participants were recruited though email invitations and postings on relevant international email lists and social media. The sample of 319 male-identified participants (aged 20-65) in this analysis came from 53 countries; of these, 56% were from North America, 18% from Latin America, 11% from Europe, 9% from Africa, and 6% from Asia.  Descriptive analyses were conducted on all items pertaining to violence prevention events and chi square analyses were employed to examine regional differences in event content and programming.

Results:

Respondents reported that nearly 75% of the events attended involved educational presentations or discussion groups, while less than 20% consisted of arts-based engagement events, marches, or larger community activities. Reported topics included content related to gender-based violence but also encompassed intersecting issues of power, fatherhood, gender roles and oppression. Most men attended events because of personalized invitations from organizations or male acquaintances. Survey respondents were overwhelmingly positive about the violence prevention events they attended, with over 70% agreeing or strongly agreeing to statements such as “because of this event, I am more willing to intervene in a man’s disrespectful behavior.”  Few differences were found across geographic regions regarding the content or perceptions of prevention events.  However, significant regional differences were found regarding programming strategies, men’s participation as organizers, and how men heard about events.

Conclusion & Implications:

This poster provides an important foundation for understanding the nature of efforts to engage men in GBV prevention programming globally. Findings suggest a potential over-reliance on short-term workshops or educational events, but also highlight some diversity in the types of engagement strategies and program content around the world. Some regional variance also suggests the utility of cross-regional networks that allow for sharing successful strategies and evaluation approaches.  Simultaneously, the finding that men’s social networks may drive their participation reinforces the importance of locally tailored prevention strategies that leverage existing social connections.