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Promoting a New Vision of Masculinity
Women cannot achieve sexual and reproductive health without the participation of men.
One clear example is the spread of HIV. Men are involved in almost every case of transmission of the virus and usually have greater power to protect themselves and their partners. Coercion and abuse, including rape, increase the risks.
The AIDS pandemic has helped underscore the linkages between power relations and sexual and reproductive health. And it has demonstrated that half of the population has been neglected in terms of reproductive and sexual health.
However, this is changing. New research shows that many men want to be caring partners and that many welcome the idea of mutually satisfying relationships built on trust and communication. UNFPA is committed to finding more effective strategies to encourage this.
Continued progress in fully engaging men and boys as partners who take responsibility for their sexual behaviour and who respect the rights of women and girls will enhance all aspects of sexual and reproductive health, including family planning and the care of children.
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Although there is striking regional variation, recent surveys suggest men have a stronger interest in family planning and reproductive health issues, and are more likely to approve of family planning and to know about contraception, than stereotypes suggest. While men tend to want more children than women, in most of the countries surveyed, the differences in reproductive intentions between men and women are small. A review of research on reproductive health and AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa concluded that failure to target men in reproductive health interventions has weakened the impact of reproductive health programmes.
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Ideas about manhood are deeply ingrained.
From an early age, boys may be socialized into gender
roles designed to keep men in power and in control.
Many grow up to believe that dominant behaviour towards
girls and women is part of being a man.
Risk-taking and aggressive sexual
behaviour on the part of young men are often applauded
by peers and condoned by society. These stereotypes
result in harm to both women and men, and erode possibilities
of establishing satisfying, mutually respectful relationships.
Targeted messages that can help boys and young men reflect
upon and discuss issues surrounding masculinity, relationships
and sexuality, can contribute to the deconstruction
of negative, high-risk and sometimes harmful attitudes.
Children, parents and society benefit
when men become more actively involved with their children.
However, while the duties of a father vary greatly throughout
the world, responsibility for children, in particular,
is still seen as belonging to the mother. Fathers spend
about a third as much time as mothers in providing direct
child care.
However, in both developed and developing
countries, a new ideal of fatherhood is emerging. The
"new" father:
- supports the mother during pregnancy and childbirth
- has close relationships with his children
- cooperates with his partner
- shares in household tasks
While this ideal is, indeed, evolving,
practice is slow to change. To successfully promote
male involvement in the family, concerned leaders, governments,
and NGOs must begin by confronting cultural barriers
and providing education that prepares them for a broader
fathering role.
Building on new understandings of
masculinity and of men’s reproductive and sexual health
needs and attitudes, UNFPA has identified a number of
key interventions to help bring about healthier and
more equitable partnerships between men and women. These
include:
- integrating activities to screen for and treat sexually transmitted disease with family planning
- supporting men’s reproductive health services (especially to key target groups) and ‘male-friendly’ reproductive health clinics providing greater access to condoms
- engaging community leaders in the broadest sense (government, private sector, religion, media, entertainment) to endorse equal partnerships between men and women
- advocating for gender equality, men’s and women’s reproductive and sexual health needs (beyond family planning), and ending harmful practices
- enacting measures that discourage gender-based violence and encourage a greater role for men in raising children
- working with the mass media, educators and service providers to promote alternative male role models and change norms that tolerate violence
UNFPA is working in many innovative
ways to encourage healthier partnerships between men
and women. Also, UNFPA has a new report on the subject:
Partnering: A New Approach to Sexual and Reproductive
Health.
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