Shifting Directions in Masculinities and

Social Norms

Magaly Marques, Deputy Director ofUS Programs, Promundo-US

NCSH Annual MeetingSeptember 9th, 2016

Promundo

• Works to build a world where all people enjoy justice,peace, and solidarity.

• Promotes Equal Rights and Gender Justice

• Seeks to understand masculinities and its connectionwith Violence.

• Strives to transform gender power dynamics andeliminate violence against women.

• Promotes a caring and supportive role for men andboys throughout their lives.

20+ Years of Masculinities Studies

• Incorporating men in SRH, HIV,health promotion by listening tomen’s voices

• Understanding intersections inmen’s lives, relationships and ways ofbehaving while being men

• Questioning hierarchies of power(of men over women and men oversome men)

• Understanding how prevailingversions of masculinities bring costsand may be harmful to women andmen

• Learning from voices of resistanceand variation vs. conformity to norm

Norms and Behaviors

Social norms:• Sets of shared expectations and beliefs about what others do,

and about what people think others will do/should do.

• Refer to what is considered typical, appropriate and normal

• Drive behaviors, although not all behaviors.

• Are maintained by group/social response: Positiverecognition/Negative sanctions.

Research questions:• Is the behavior driven by beliefs about what others do or expect

you to do?

• Would you still act the same way even if others disagreed?

• Are there consequences of departing from the behavior?

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• Use of physical and sexual violence against female

partners

• Participation in MCH

• Communication with partner about SRH

• Seeking HIV testing

• Number of sexual partners

• Having paid for sex

• Rates of self-reported STI symptoms

• Condom use

• Substance/alcohol use

Across settings, men’s attitudes about what it meansto be men found to be correlated with:

Gender Equitable Men (GEM) Scale:Attitudes and Behaviors

• Behaviors Predicted: Condom use

Contraceptive Use

Multiple sexual partners

IPV

• Items: 24

• Domains: Violence

Sexual relationships

SRH

Household chores

Gender Equitable Men (GEM) Scale:Attitudes and Behaviors

Applying the GEM Scale, we found that men with moreequitable attitudes about gender are:

• Less likely to use violence against an intimate partner (IPV)• More likely to participate in daily care of child• More likely to participate in domestic tasks• More likely to be satisfied with his sexual relationship• More likely to talk with a partner about personal problems• More likely to have been present at the birth of his child• Less likely to abuse alcohol• More likely to get tested for HIV

Acceptance of and compliance with prevailing masculinesocial norms is consistently correlated with key HIV riskbehaviors.

International Men and Gender Equality Study/ IMAGES

• Household survey and qualitative research with men and

women about gender attitudes and behaviors

• Creates a global and national database of men’s

behaviors and attitudes with a standardized instrument

• Provides an assessment of current situation and baseline

for monitoring changes in men’s behaviors and attitude

• Informs program development and planning

• Identifies challenges and gaps for prevention and advocacy

interventions

Key Findings from IMAGES

• Violence creates violence – and the most traumatic form iswitnessing violence against mothers

• Caregiving creates caregiving: men who see their fathersin caring and caregiving relationships more likely to do thesame

• Gender attitudes matter – they predict use of violence,participation in care work at home and as a parent, andoverall satisfaction

• Men who accept gender equality are healthier - and theirfemale partners are happier and healthier

Engaging Men Doesn’t Solve it All …..

• It’s imperative to:– Address gender power dynamics and other

intersections of power relations such as race,social status, class, education.

– Have gender equality as the goal of engagingmen.

• But it does not resolve:– Structural issues that create and perpetuate

poverty– Infrastructure issues in access to health– Systemic issues of violence against women

• But it does highlight the need to study men,masculinities and male behavior to betterunderstand key drivers of gender inequality

• And it does speed up the march to genderequality from which there is no turning back …..

Why does caregiving matter for men?

MEN WHO DO MORE CAREGIVING:

• Show better overall mental health

• Reduced risk of suicide

• Longer life span

• Reduced risk of incarceration

• Lower rates of alcohol and substanceabuse

• Greater life satisfaction

• Show less use of some forms of violence

Thank You