The White Ribbon Campaign this week launched Engaging Men and Boys to Reduce and Prevent Gender-Based Violence, an Issue Brief commissioned by Status of Women Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada.
The Issue Brief provides an overview of efforts to engage men of all ages in efforts to reduce and prevent gender-based violence in Canada and around the world.
This Brief is rooted in three basic premises:
1. Work with men and boys is necessary. As perpetrators, the target audience for primary prevention, holders of social norms, influencers on other men, and positive agents of change; men must to be engaged to reduce and prevent gender-based violence.
2. Work with men and boys can be effective. As the evidence base grows, evaluation data appears, lessons are learned, and best practices are shared, we know this may be the missing compliment to past decades of work.
3. Work with men and boys can be positive. There is a much broader spectrum of positive roles for men and boys to play than perpetrator or potential perpetrator of gender-based violence. These roles not only prevent and reduce violence against women and promote gender equality, but also improve the lives of men and boys by freeing them from these harmful and limiting aspects of masculinities.
Read more about the Brief, and download English and French versions from the White Ribbon Campaign website.
