Genderwise 2nd Transnational Workshop Enna, 6-7 October 2006 Sandro Bellassai

1. Genderwise 2nd Transnational Workshop Enna, 6-7 October 2006 Sandro Bellassai Dipartimento Discipline storiche Università di Bologna Men’s business Persistence and change in modern gender roles

2. General outline1 – A historical overview2 – What is at stake for men in the change of gender roles?3 – From general analysis to practical work on inequality

3. 1 – A historical overview– Understanding the present male identities is essential to plan concrete action– The present male identities are a result of the changes and conflicts which took place in the past decades– Since the end of the nineteenth century, western societies have been involved in wide processes of change in gender relations and identities

4. Causes of change in gender roles throughout the twentieth century:A) at a political and social level: the presence of women in society has become increasingly visible, undermining the concept of public sphere as an exclusively male domain

5. B) at a cultural and ethical level: the processes of modernisation and secularisation led to the decline of tradition as a foundation of moral order C) at an economic level: the growing mass consumption economy required more liberal gender roles and morals

6. Men mostly tried to resist the impact of change in the attempt to invariably reproduce the traditional gender hierarchy in the new context In the Sixties and Seventies, it became clear that all these attempts were ineffective. Therefore, traditional masculinity definitely lost its supremacy as undisputed pattern of male attitudes and behaviour

7. Today, however, many men still consider traditional gender roles the only influential ones: firstly, because they guarantee male privilegesecondly, because the acceptance of new models of masculinity is still very limited and not sufficiently evident

8. 2 – What is at stake for men in the change of gender roles? Men have supported gender inequality not only to preserve their material advantages: they have also opposed changes to safeguard their identity balance The connection between power and gender identity has always been essential for traditional masculinity to survive

9. Whenever men felt that their power was being undermined, they also feared a threat to their genuine identity as men Both in the past and in the present, the connection between power and identity can be regarded as topical for understanding men’s attitude towards social change

10. No significant transformation of gender roles can be attained where men see the reproduction of traditional roles as a prerequisite for their own well-being as men

11. Traditionally, men’s well-being has been identified with: (on a collective level) a state of supremacy over women and other “deviant” men (on a personal level) an identity based on the generally acknowledged attributes of virility

12. Some modern organisation and communication strategies have acted as brokers between men’s traditional imaginary and the change of gender roles, still reproducing values like male supremacy and virility These compromise strategies are far from removing the chief obstacle to the change of gender roles, i.e. the need men feel to be reassured about their virility

13. 3 – From general analysis to practical work on inequality Today, many men try to feel comfortable in unconventional gender roles Yet these new models, even when they become a permanent way of life, are in most cases the result of a personal process

14. Messages from media, public organisations, the economic world, the army, and religious organisations mostly convey that: the general recognition of men’s privileges is essential for social order traditional (or quasi-traditional) gender roles – in the public as well as in the private sphere – abide by Nature’s law

15. What is needed is a deconstruction of patriarchal gender roles at every level, together with the recognition that they essentially act as means of male supremacy

16. At the same time, significant steps could be taken by: A) refraining from an exclusively didactic approach, since for a large number of men traditional gender roles are the only authoritative models on which they can base their identity B) reiterating the fundamental concept that men, too, have a price to pay – both in their private and public life (work, politics, knowledge) – if they persist in traditional gender roles