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2013-02-01
Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP);
This issue brief presents findings from a scan of issues facing boys and men of color in education, health, and pathways to employment. Drawing on discussions, surveys, and interviews with experts and practitioners, the paper identifies 8 pressing concerns and gives accompanying recommendations. Areas that emerge as having great potential for impact are: reforming harsh school discipline, early interventions for dropout prevention, trauma-based mental health interventions, and career training programs.
2014-09-03
National Transitional Jobs Network;
These slides give an overview of the origins of the child support system, a break-down of federal, state, and local child support obligations, and innovations in child support reform efforts that help lift families out of poverty.
2015-12-03
Campaign for Black Male Achievement;
National challenges regarding race, law enforcement, and access to opportunity negatively impact Black men and boys; yet, many approaches to addressing these issues are anchored at the city-level. This Campaign for Black Male Achievement (CBMA) report unveils a Black Male Achievement (BMA) City index to track and communicate cities' efforts to advance Black males. The BMA Index scores 50 cities, which include approximately 5.5 million Black males, more than 30 percent of all Black men and boys in the country. The report spotlights the ten highest scored cities and provides in-depth profiles of how the top three scoring cities are responding to the needs of Black men and boys to help them achieve their full potential.
2017-06-28
European Commission (EC);
The EU's continued engagement towards gender equality is taking place in a more global context of uncertainty. On the macroeconomic front, Europe is emerging from a period of recession; though output is surpassing pre-crisis levels and labour market outcomes have improved, employmentperformance is diverging among Member States. The recent increase in migratory flows has also reinforced the need for effective policies on integration of third-country nationals. On the socio-political front, Europe is facing concerns of intolerance, an increase in social inequalities and poverty. In this context, the EU perseveres in pursuit of its Treaty obligation to promote gender equality and in its medium term strategic engagement and more long-term goals and targets agreed with global partners in the framework of the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
This report takes stock of progress in implementing the Strategic engagement for gender equality:
✓ It provides a wide array of evidence for key trends using the indicators set out in the Strategic engagement;
✓ To ensure accountability, it reviews the EU's actions and explains what the Commission and the Member States have achieved in 2016;
✓ As a potential source of inspiration, it highlights good practices in Member States and innovative projects that the EU has supported.
Attention is focused on short-term developments over the last 12 months, but also on medium term changes since 2010.
This Annual Report also contributes to the monitoring and in-depth review of the Sustainable Development Goal on gender equality (SDG 5, see box) of the UN 2030 Agenda and of some other SDGs which include indicators with a gender perspective.
2007-08-02
Women's Refugee Commission (formerly Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children);
As Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan asserts, "[T]here is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women." However, the involvement of men and boys is vital to achieving the rights of women and girls.
Men and boys must be an active, engaged part of the solution. As violence against women has become epidemic, and with the increasing feminization of poverty, migration and HIV/AIDS, it is vital to reinvigorate the fight for gender equality. No longer is gender equality simply a women's right issue. It is a crucial social justice issue necessary for the longer-term well-being of humankind and the planet.
Women are disenfranchised, economically excluded and disempowered in many parts of the world:
Women and girls make up 70% of the 1.3 billion people worldwide living in extreme poverty (those living on less than $1 per day).33% of women globally are homeless or live in inadequate dwellings, such as slums.Women work 66% of the world's working hours and in most developing countries produce 60 - 80% of the food1 but only own 1% of land and hold only 14% of parliamentary seats.2
As a result of their disenfranchisement, women have less access to education at all levels and fewer economic opportunities. Women's work is generally less prestigious, less desirable and less well paid. Women have less voice in household and community decisions. They are given fewer opportunities to participate in leadership positions. As a result, women are more vulnerable to exploitation and have fewer options available to them. Often economically dependent on spouses and partners, they are unable to leave abusive relationships.
Men, on the other hand, are advantaged, purely on the basis of being born male because masculinity is equated with power, access, resources, differential treatment and preferential opportunities.
Gender equality:
increases families' income;is required for the eradication of poverty and the reduction of HIV/AIDS;leads to sustainable development;enhances the education and health of all family members.
2005-10-04
Women's Refugee Commission (formerly Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children);
At the 48th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in March 2004, participating governments agreed an important set of conclusions on "the role of men and boys in achieving gender equality" and urged all key stakeholders, including governments, UN organizations and civil society, to promote action at all levels in fields such as education, health services, training, media and the workplace to increase the contribution of men and boys to furthering gender equality.1
In order to initiate work on gender equality and male involvement therein, critical examination of men's power and privilege and current constructs of "masculinities" are necessary prerequisites. Seventy percent of the 1.3 billion people worldwide living in extreme poverty are women and girls. Gender discrimination is a major cause of poverty and, in many countries, women still have great difficulties securing basic education, finding employment and having fair control over household income. Until gender discrimination is ended, through the mainstreaming of gender issues and the promotion of gender equality, these issues cannot be successfully addressed.
The patterns of domination, though, may be so deeply embedded in cultures and institutions that we may not even recognize them: boys getting more food than girls; streets where women walk only under threat; the interruption of women's speech in conversation. Awareness, analysis and visibility are, hence, key starting points in our task of understanding gender roles and masculinities and their impact on our programs and services targeting persons of concern.
Male inclusion in the gender mainstreaming process has increasingly been documented as vital to the success of mainstreaming efforts. It is well understood that the achievement of gender equality is not possible without the active involvement and support of men. Men must be reached and included so that interventions for women and girls are not derailed by male resistance.
Too often sidelined as a women's issue, gender mainstreaming and gender equality stagnate as peripheral issues with considerable lip service but little tangible movement. We still fail to understand men's roles and responsibilities in working toward a gender equitable world. We fail to grasp their reluctance to become involved. We fail to analyze how masculinity limits and inhibits male participation. Additionally, we fail to articulate the negative effects on men of perpetuating a gender unequal world and the potential positive ramifications -- for men -- of gender equality.
We need to develop approaches and strategies for male inclusion in the gender equality process. We need to deepen our understanding of the resistance encountered, document what works and develop tools for field-based use. We need to bring men and boys front and center, in line and in place with women and girls, in the promotion of gender mainstreaming and in the march for gender equality. We need to stress that promoting gender equality is not about granting privileges to women while disempowering men. It is about creating integrated approaches that benefit all. It is about creating a more socially just world.
Displaced populations, often unaffected by national policies and priorities, may remain marginalized by national government gender mainstreaming efforts. Service providers to these populations may have little awareness of gender issues. They may be reluctant to interfere with local cultural practices. They may be unaware of how resources and power are monopolized by male members of the community and the impact this has on women and girls.
This resource packet attempts to broaden understanding of masculinities, the role and need for male inclusion in the gender mainstreaming process, how gender inequality impacts both men and women, and to provide thoughts for the way forward. Much of the information provided is generic, but its intent is to target service providers working with displaced populations as a means of strengthening their approaches and interventions in order to enhance gender mainstreaming in their work.
Finally, tools are provided to assess male and female participation and measure good practice.
2003-02-11
Population Services International;
Objectives: To understand women's and men's motivations for entering into cross-generational relationships and to examine how their risk perception for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) affects sexual decision-making and condom use.
Methods: A total of eight focus groups were conducted with women aged 15 -- 19 and 28 indepth interviews were carried out with men aged 30 years and older in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, and Meru. Participants discussed motivations for entering into non-marital, crossgenerational relationships, perceived risks, relationship dynamics, and circumstances under which older men and younger women meet. Data analysis highlighted common and divergent themes on cross-generational relationships and the risks associated with them.
Results: According to study participants, Kenyan men who pursue younger women do not fit a "sugar daddy" stereotype; rather they come from a variety of social and professional backgrounds. Young women actively seek partners who are willing to spend money on them whereas men look for partners who are well mannered, need money and have certain physical attributes. Women's primary incentive for engaging in cross-generational relationships is financial and material gain while men seek younger partners for sexual gratification. Pressure from peers to fit in and some family members to secure financial assistance from older partners can compel women to engage in cross-generational relationships. Although some peer groups support and encourage such relationships, other groups, especially wives, same-aged boyfriends and parents, disapprove of them. As a result, cross-generational couples are often preoccupied by the threat of discovery. Risk perception for STIs/HIV is low and couples rarely use condoms.
Conclusions: Most cross-generational couples underestimate their risk for infection from STIs/ HIV. Young women believe that older men are low-risk partners because they are less likely to be promiscuous and more likely to remain faithful to younger partners and wives. Men believe that young partners are innocent and sexually inexperienced. Material gain, emotional factors, sexual gratification, and recognition from peers override the risk for STIs and HIV infection. Condom use is low and young women's ability to negotiate use is compromised by age disparities and economic dependence. Study findings suggest several programmatic strategies for targeting young women and older men. Behavior change communication campaigns should educate women and men about the increased risk of STIs/HIV associated with cross-generational relationships. Programs should also promote safer sexual practices, such as consistent condom use, within relationships. Campaigns could employ positive role models to encourage young women to seek safer alternatives to cross-generational relationships and decrease peer pressure among men to pursue such relationships. Long-term interventions include improving young women's access to educational and career opportunities, and working with communities to determine the best approach for changing social norms and the acceptability of cross-generational relationships.
2002-11-01
Population Services International;
With the most and longest experience social marketing lubricants, PSI is clearly the leader and within PSI is where the lessons learned primarily lie. The findings in this report come from the few PSI and Non-PSI lubricant social marketing projects implemented (or to be implemented) in Bolivia, Cote d'Ivoire, Romania, the Philippines, Nigeria, Laos, Bombay India, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, and Central America and some projects distributing lubricants free of charge in Jamaica, India, South Africa, Hong Kong, and Chad. Most countries were very cooperative with sharing their lessons, however, with changes in project leadership valuable details of corporate memory have been lost. Even with PSI's pioneering in lubricants, in the midst of all the condom marketing, lubricants are a peripheral product. This report also examines the notion that "a condom is only as good as the lubricant."
2005-03-01
Population Services International;
This report presents the findings of a qualitative study carried out in Maputo, Mozambique, among women engaged in cross-generational transactional sex. Cross-generational sex is contributing significantly to the spread of HIV/AIDS in Mozambique and as such is a key area for behaviour change interventinos, although few organisations are currently addressing the issue. The study reveals thta young women engaged in cross-generational and transactional sex have a complex sexual network involving multiple partners, including both transactional and non-transactional relationships.
The study was carried out between October and November 2004, using the PEER (participatory ethnographic evaluation and research) method. PEER is an innovative approach to programme research, evaluation and design, based upon training members of the target group (peer researchers) to carry out in-depth qualitative interviews among their peers. Twenty young women in the age group 16-25 years, living in and around central Maputo were recruited as peer researchers. Each peer researcher interviewed three peers and conducted three separate interviews with each peer, with a total of 180 interviews carried out.
2009-03-18
Population Services International;
Description of Intervention: PSI's LaSky program targeting MSM combines the distribution of informational and motivational materials to the target group with outreach activities, "edutainment" group sessions and inter-personal communications delivered by trained peer educators and opinion leaders. LaSky also supports an internet site with information, and a counseling telephone hotline.
Methodology: The baseline survey in 2006 used time-location sampling; due to low response rates the follow-up in 2008 used respondent-driven sampling (RDS). Sample size was calculated for all the regions together. The baseline was a single-stage cluster sample, with locations where MSM congregate defined as clusters. The number of respondents to be selected was proportionate to cluster size. In every region the estimates of the number of MSM per cluster were calculated as a part of mapping exercise conducted prior to data collection. The follow-up in 2008 used the clusters defined in 2006 to select seeds (initial respondents). In large metropolitan centers (where the estimated number of total MSM in more than 20,000) four recruitment waves were completed. In smaller locations the estimated number of MSM is below 10,000, and three recruitment waves were completed. A total of 539 and 1113 interviews respectively were completed for the baseline and follow-up studies. Analyses consisted of logistic regression and anovas to examine trends over time, to ascertain which determinants are correlated with key behaviors, and to examine the association between program exposure and changes in health behaviors and determinants. Socio-demographic characteristics and geographic location were controlled for in the analyses.
Main Findings
The monitoring table highlights that:
The share of respondents who report having relationships with a permanent partner has reached 82.0%, up from 68.3% two years ago (p value less than .001). Yet the number of respondents reporting having casual partners has also increased (p value less than .05), which suggests that MSM tend to maintain multiple sexual relationships at any given time.Condom use is far from being universal and varies by type of partner. In 2008, condom use at last sex with casual partners was 66.8%, and it was only 44.1% with permanent partners. The findings show a significant improvement in condom use among casual partners over time, but no change in condom use with permanent partners.The results of segmentation analysis indicate that the probability of MSM using condom during last contact with male partner increases with availability of free condoms. Almost 85% of those practicing safe sex report having received condoms for free, the respective figure for non-users is 77% (p value less than .01). Thus, the availability of free condoms encourages MSM to use condoms.Self-efficacy to discuss condom use. MSM who are confident in their ability to discuss condom use with different types of partners are more likely to use condoms at last sex with a male partner. The respective means are 2.86 for users and 2.58 for non-users (p value less than .001).Perception of condoms making sex less pleasant. Predictably, respondents who disagree with the statement "condoms make sex less pleasant" are more likely to use condoms than those who subscribe to this notion (45% vs. 30.2%, respectively, p value less than .001).The results of evaluation analysis reveal that PSI program exposure is associated with:
An increase in condom use with casual partners as well as commercial partners (p value less than .05).A greater likelihood of being tested for STIs (p value less than .05).Increased confidence to negotiate condom use with different types of partners, being better informed about the requirement for HIV test being accompanied by pre-and post-test counseling, and knowing that it is not possible to tell by looking if a person has an STI (p value less than .05).A higher perception of being at risk for HIV (p value less than .05).There was no effect on the perception that condoms make sex less pleasant.
2002-05-01
Urban Institute;
Despite major strides in getting the message to teenage boys about AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and in teaching them how to say no to sex and to use birth control, gaps persist in boys' education and understanding of reproductive health. Most formal sex and reproductive health education takes place in school, which means dropouts sometimes miss out on this instruction. Efforts are needed to reduce gaps in instruction by race, gender, and school attendance.
