How and Why Should Boys and Men Engage in Building Gender Equality through the Lens of Gender-Based Violence, Reproduction, and Education?

Abstract

Recently, growing global attention to the fundamental principles of gender equality has encouraged progressive social movements aimed at promoting comprehensive health and well-being through the establishment of equitable gender norms. As a critical and pervasive social issue, achieving true gender equality requires the active, sustained participation from all segments of society, explicitly including men and boys. Given their historically dominant position within existing social and institutional structures, men and boys represent a crucial, transformative force in challenging and dismantling entrenched patriarchal norms. This paper focuses specifically on men and boys, comprehensively discussing how and why they should actively engage in advancing gender equality across three primary domains: gender-based violence, reproductive rights, and education. As potential allies and advocates, men can offer vital informal support to victims of gender-based violence and proactively intervene to prevent abusive behaviours, noting that men are also indirectly affected by the pervasive consequences of such violence. Furthermore, since gender-based violence is a significant contributor to the spread of sexually transmitted infections, men possess a profound public health responsibility to help reduce their transmission. Respecting women's reproductive autonomy is absolutely essential, as women's reproductive health is closely tied to sustaining the global labour supply and fundamentally contributes to a more balanced, equitable socioeconomic system. Additionally, men and boys should collaboratively work to dismantle harmful stereotypes that hinder girls' educational opportunities, particularly given the alarming prevalence of gender-based threats in educational settings and the highly influential role that male guardians play in shaping girls' schooling trajectories.