| dc.description.abstract | The topic of men and gender equality is seen as somewhat ambiguous within the gender equality discourse. On the one
hand, for a long period gender equality policies have been contextualised mainly as a ‘women’s issue’ — as women have
been the driving force behind gender equality strategies and have been seen as the only ones who benefit from a more
equal society (European Commission:2013). On the other hand, rather too often, men are seen as a monolithic group who
benefit from inequality and therefore are reluctant to change the status quo.
However, in the last decade there has been more debate on how to engage more men in gender equality initiatives and
how gender inequality affects different groups of men. Numerous men’s initiatives (mostly from civil society organisations)
that support gender equality have been set up in Europe and beyond. These developments have also taken place at EU
level. The European Commission’s ‘Roadmap for equality between women and men 2006–10’ (1) specifically stresses the
need for men to be more involved in care activities. It emphasises that men should be encouraged to take up family responsibilities,
in particular through incentives to take parental and paternity leave and to share leave entitlements with women.
The European Commission’s ‘Strategy for equality between women and men 2010–15’ (2) looks at men and gender equality
from a horizontal perspective. It states that gender equality needs the active contribution, support and participation
of men and that policies should also address gender-related inequalities that affect boys/men such as literacy rates, early
school-leaving and occupational health. It also states that as part of the Commission’s key actions the Commission will address
the role of men in gender equality and promote good practice on gender roles in youth, education, culture and sport.
The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) started to work with the issue of men and gender equality in 2010, when
an expert meeting on men and masculinities (3) took place in Vilnius. Following the meeting a study was launched to identify
men’s involvement in gender equality in the European Union (4). As part of the study, information on the organisations working
in the field of men and gender equality was collected. This information was made available in a web-based database.
On 30 May 2013, EIGE organised a meeting on men and gender equality, which took place in Zagreb. The main discussions
centred on the possible focus of a men and gender equality debate on EIGE’s online discussion platform, EuroGender. The
experts from the Member States and EIGE identified three possible topics for further debate: (a) men’s policies as part of
gender equality policies; (b) intersectional issues; and (c) men and their roles in contemporary societies.
Hence, EIGE, as the main European Union knowledge centre for gender equality, has acknowledged the importance of
working in the field of men and gender equality. In its annual work programme for 2013 (5) EIGE states that the institute
will integrate the perspective of men in its key activities, highlighting the part men play in supporting gender equality, for
example by providing examples of male involvement in such work in EIGE’s ‘Women and men of Europe’ resource pool.
To take the issue of men and gender equality forward, EIGE hosted an online discussion on the topic on 22 October 2013.
The discussion took as its basis the areas identified at the Zagreb expert meeting. In addition to the outcomes of this meeting,
EIGE drew on the conclusions of the European Commission’s study ‘The role of men in gender equality — European
strategies and insights’ in setting up the meeting. This report summarises the major points made during the discussions,
although it will be impossible to accurately reflect all the variety of viewpoints. Transcripts of the discussion can be found
in Annex II. | en_US |
