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Violence against women (VAW) has been on the agenda of women activists and human rights organizations for decades, including at the centre of the UN’s agenda on gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Around the world, at least one in every three women have been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused by a man in her lifetime. More than 20 percent of women have reported that they have been abused by men with whom they live.
Moreover, the UN reports that among women aged 15-44 years, gender-based violence (GBV) accounts for more death and disability among women than the combined effects of cancer, malaria, traffic injuries and war.
VAW is the result of inequalities between women and men and a culture of violent masculinity. Though not all men use violence, most have traditionally been silent on the subject, complicit through their lack of action. However in recent years, growing numbers of men have begun to speak out against VAW, understanding that it is not just an abstract problem that affects women in poor countries, but that in many cases it has also affected their own mothers, sisters, partners, daughters and friends.
The incorporation of boys and men into the struggle to end VAW is complex, and often requires that they themselves confront their own masculinity and the patriarchal order, and question their own psychological and social identity.
The clash between the traditional interpretation of gender roles in the family, the community and the economy that underpins men’s violence, and the decades-old feminist movement that has demanded a change in these traditional ideas of what constitutes a man and a woman, has created a crisis of masculinity, in which men are increasingly confused about their own roles in economic, political and social life.
Working with men and boys to end violence against women means confronting this crisis of masculinity, as well as involving them directly in speaking out against gender inequality and violence
There are several NGOs and movements around the world that have initiated actions and campaigns along these lines.
Promundo a Brazilian NGO, organizes focus groups for young men that encourage them to not use VAW and to intervene in favour of victims. Namibian Men for Change (NAMEC) is another example of increasing efforts to address VAW as a wider social problem, rather than a “woman’s question”. As an awareness raising project, NAMEC members visit schools and organize forums for discussion among boys and men.
Men Can Stop Rape, based in the United States, seeks to promote gender equality though education campaigns and community workshops with men and boys. Their innovative “Strength” campaign works with professional athletes and other male role models to convey the message that men can be strong without being violent.
In this light, UN-INSTRAW supports and encourages the creation of new and cutting-edge programmes that seek to engage men and boys in challenging gender stereotypes and working against to end VAW.
Moreover, the Institute, in support of the Secretary-General Campaign “Unite to end violence against women,” calls on the UN system, women and women’s organizations to strengthen their collaboration with men and men’s associations in the context of new masculinities and the construction of a culture of peace and sustainable development.
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