32 participants from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka from various organisations participated in a four day workshop on “Engaging boys and young men for gender equality and sexual & reproductive health & rights”.
This workshop was organisaed by Save the Children Sweden in South & Central Asia in collaboration with the International Planned Parenthood Federation in South Asia and MenEngage Alliance in South Asia which took place in Kathmandu, Nepal from the 16th – 19th of November, 2009.
The purpose of this workshop was to increase knowledge about pertinent issues relating to gender, masculinity, violence, sexuality, sexual and reproductive health and the rights of men and women and to develop skills and strategies to engage men and boys on these issues. The workshop was divided into four themes Gender Equality, Violence, Sexual & Reproductive Health & Rights and Strategies of working with boys and young men. The activities prompted lively debates, which often continued late into the evenings.
Violence against women and children in South Asia is widespread and one of the greatest violations of Human Rights. Inequality, discrimination, exploitation, unequal power relations and limited access in economic and political spheres means that women in South Asia have trouble. In addition, these deprivations create environments where women and girls, quite often boys as well, are subjected to gender-based violence (GBV). Youth and children experience GBV to a larger degree because of their additional vulnerability and low status in society.
Research has demonstrated that amongst young boys, ideas of masculinity become the most compelling force for risk-taking behaviour, violence, unsafe sexual practices and misogyny. In fact, this has larger implications not only for women and girls but for their own health and relationships with other men and boys. Hence, there is urgent need to include boys and men if we want to promote gender equality and justice.
“The narrow path of traditional masculinities might provide young boys with a sense of entitlement to power but it also chips away the possibilities of building healthy and equitable relationships with girls/women as well as other boys/men and traps them into a web of trauma and inadequacies. However, on the positive side, the fact that not all boys are violent gives us hope for changing the world we live in,” says Laxman Belbase, Regional Coordinator of the Asia MenEngage Alliance and Gender Programme Officer for Save the Children Sweden Regional Office for South and Central Asia.
It is in this context that Save the Children Sweden, International Planned Parenthood Federation and MenEngage Alliance have made a commitment to address gender discrimination and gender based violence by working with men and boys to challenge unequal gender and power relations and hegemonic forms of masculinities. The agencies are also committed to link various forms of discrimination and address it holistically from a rights based perspective where addressing the root causes of rights violation, such as conventional forms of masculinities is a key challenge. It is therefore necessary that organisations in South Asia, initiate relevant and effective processes for working with men and boys to address violence backed with appropriate tools.
For more information, please contact:
Mr. Laxman Belbase
Programme Officer-Gender Issues
Regional Coordinator, MenEngage Alliance-South Asia
Save the Children Sweden-Regional office for South & Central Asia,
Kathmandu, Nepal
Tel: 977 1 4251389 ext: 303
Email: laxmanb@sca.savethechildren.se
OR,
Dr. Jameel Zamir
Regional Coordinator,
International Planned Parenthood Federation, South Asia Regional Office,
New Delhi, India
Tel: 911 1 2435 9221 6 ext: 216
Email: jzamir@ippfsar.org