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WHAT ’ S UP WITH YOUNG MEN? Youth, Marginalization and Masculinities in the Context of Conflict

WHAT ’ S UP WITH YOUNG MEN? Youth, Marginalization and Masculinities in the Context of Conflict. Gary Barker, PhD, International Director Instituto Promundo Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Washington, DC, USA www.promundo.org.br. The Topics. How conflict and war shape and influence masculinities

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WHAT ’ S UP WITH YOUNG MEN? Youth, Marginalization and Masculinities in the Context of Conflict

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  1. WHAT’S UP WITH YOUNG MEN? Youth, Marginalization and Masculinities in the Context of Conflict Gary Barker, PhD, International Director InstitutoPromundo Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Washington, DC, USA www.promundo.org.br

  2. The Topics • How conflict and war shape and influence masculinities • Reflect about key findings from the International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES) • Discuss a few ways forward in terms of policies

  3. Masculinities and conflict • Deliberate manipulation of unemployed boys and men by armed groups; • Armed groups become surrogate families, offer male role models; • At the hands of the gun, being part of armed groups offers sex, status, income, power • Challenge of returning to civilian life in which men revert to status of being “boys” and being powerless • The challenge in unlearning violence

  4. After the Conflict: What Happens to Young Men? • Young men IDP camps: nothing to do, nothing to be • Sexual violence in camps • How is aid distributed in camps? • The effects of waiting …. • Transactional sex: men buying, young women selling • The challenge of transition – going back to “youthhood”, lost livelihoods

  5. Violence Witnessed in Conflict Can Bring Long-term Effects: Example from Rwanda(Rwandan Men’s Resource Center, Promundo and ICRW) • Nationally representative sample: n=3612; carried out mid-2010 • 39% of men say they have used GBV against partner; 57.2% of women say they have experienced violence • 37% of women say they experienced marital rape; 3.7% of men say they have done it • 66% of men and 53.5% of women experienced violence growing up; 44% and 40% witnessed GBV in home • 80% of men and women witnessed/experienced violence of some kind during genocide • Men who witnessed or experienced violence during genocide were 50% more like to have used violence against a sexual partner

  6. What works in fragile settings? (Where there is no gender expert …) • Build on positive, local cultural practices (young men’s roles in the lives of children, elders, positive rites of passage, youth culture) • Identifying the “voices of resistance” – youngmen who already showed willingness to embrace new ideas about masculinities • Helping young and adult men find new identities

  7. Program examples from other post-conflict settings: Balkans • Engaging young men in the Balkans in vocational training high schools with CARE-Balkans and local NGO partners • Using group education and community campaigns to promote new ideas about “Balkans manhood” • 41-55% used violence against other boys in past 3 months • Continuing support of xenophobic violence and ethnic tensions • Working with ministries of youth, sports, education to embed the process in policy • Providing a space for young men who are willing to question prevailing norms – with a focus on deconstructing militaristic versions of manhood

  8. Including Young Men Where the Action Is: Women’s Economic Empowerment • Pilot project to engage male partners of female VSLA participants • Formative research found that VSLA generally reduces GBV but did not lead to more equitable household decision-making • Husbands more likely to hide income from wives than vice versa; most common source of couple conflict was money • Building group sessions for husbands into VSLA • Men reacting positively: • “I thought that I have to be the boss and when I grow older I should do nothing in the house, but now I learned that a man could do what a women can do.” • “We learned to know what our wife’s are doing in the house and in VSL: this has helped us to understand how we can support her.”

  9. Final Reflections • Build on the evidence-based interventions and take them to scale • Build on the change that is already happening • Build young and adult men’s participation into large scale interventions reaching women, for example microcredit and CCTs • Pay attention to boys’ education while we work to reduce disparities girls face • Include young men in all our HIV and GBV prevention efforts • Understand the identity purposes as well and income purposes of employment and income creation

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