The role of men and boys in achieving gender equality in Brazil
Revision for “The role of men and boys in achieving gender equality in Brazil” created on November 16, 2015 @ 16:24:09 [Autosave]
The role of men and boys in achieving gender equality in Brazil
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In previous years, in "Gender , as in the rest of the world, if men were ever mentioned in the context of "Gender , it was in relation to how men affected the status of women, usually as the reason or instigator of a specific problem, or as an obstacle to improving the status of women. With time, the notion gradually emerged that "gender efforts focusing only on women are perhaps not the most efficient way of improving the status of women, and that it would be more productive to discuss men too in gender equality policy, particularly in view of how to involve men more in gender equality efforts, how to instigate equitable behaviour among men and how to get men to support improvement in the status of women.Sternberg, P. and Hubley, J. (2004). "Evaluating men’s involvement as a strategy in sexual and reproductive health promotion". Health Promotion International 19(3), Oxford University Press. 389-396.
In recent years, Brazil has made many positive strides forward in the area of gender equality. This notwithstanding, according to the Minister of the Secretariat on Policies for Women, Eleonora Menicucci, inequalities continue to exist due to the patriarchal mentality that shapes Brazilian society.João Peres, Rede Brasil Atual (13 April 2012). <a href="http://www.redebrasilatual.com.br/temas/trabalho/2012/04/para-ministra-201cmentalidade-patriarcal201d-atrapalha-mulheres-no-mercado-de-trabalho">"Para ministra, “mentalidade patriarcal” atrapalha mulheres no mercado de trabalho" (Mister states the "patriarchal mentality" disrupts women’s involvement in the labour market"</a>. Retrieved 20 October 2012. This situation raises the questions (i) as to what are the attitudes and practices of adult and younger men in Brazil, that is, whether, and, if so, to what extent, they adhere to more rigid views about "Masculinities; and (ii) as to whether policy and other efforts in the country, concentrated on improving the status of women, have included due attention to the role of men and boys in achieving gender equality. A key document in this regard is a report on an ""International (IMAGES)", prepared in 2011, by the "International and "Instituto,Barker, G., Contreras, M., Heilman, B., Singh, A., Verma, R., Nascimento, M. (January 2011). <a href="http://www.icrw.org/publications/evolving-men">"Evolving Men: Initial Results from the International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES)"</a>. Washington, D.C.: International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Promundo. Retrieved 19 October 2012. which discusses the results from a comprehensive household questionnaire in Brazil, amongst other countries, on men’s attitudes and practices on a wide variety of topics related to gender equality. Unless otherwise specified, the source of the information in this section is the said report and/or survey. Whereas Brazil has a national policy supporting a woman’s right to have someone of their choice (presumably the father) present during childbirth, yet implementation has been far less than universal, with as many as 54% of men reporting they were not present for the birth of their child. Only 7% reported to have been in the delivery room, whilst 39% were elsewhere in hospital. Yet, Brazilian men are accompanying women to prenatal visits at a high rate of 78%. Although not stated in the report, the reasons for these numbers may be related to the fact that, in accordance with the 2009 statistics released by the Ministry of Health in Brazil, 43% of the pregnancies in Brazil are delivered by caesarean section (despite that only 15% are medically necessary).Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE) (2 September 2009). <a href="http://www.ibge.gov.br/home/presidencia/noticias/noticia_visualiza.php?id_noticia=1445&id_pagina=1">"IBGE divulga Indicadores Demográficos e de Saúde"</a>. Retrieved 21 October 2012. Only 15% of the Brazilian men surveyed encountered a campaign promoting fathers’ involvement. 8% had participated in activity to promote fathers’ involvement. In Brazil, men’s reports of regular abuse of alcohol, with 69% of the men confirming abuse, contrasts sharply to the number of women, 20%, confirming abuse of their own. Similarly, men had relatively low rates of HIV testing, consistently lower than women’s rates of testing, with only 35% of the men confirming that they had sought an HIV test, against a total of 65% for women. With regards to knowledge and attitudes about policies and laws promoting gender equality and men’s exposure to messages and campaigns about violence against women (VAW), the following results emerged: In 2003, Brazil hosted an expert group meeting organised by the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), entitled “The role of men and boys in achieving gender equality”United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women (2003). <a href="http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/egm/men-boys2003/documents.html">“The role of men and boys in achieving gender equality”</a>. Based on Expert Group Meeting organized by DAW in collaboration with "United, "International and "United from 21-24 October 2003 in Brazil. Retrieved 14 October 2012. and, in 2009, it hosted the "Event:2009-03-29, bringing together NGOs, policy makers and representatives from the private sector, in order to build, strengthen and expand a growing international network of programs, activists and policy makers dedicated to engaging men and boys in gender equality. On a more domestic level, Brazil has implemented some policies of its own in order to engage men in gender equality: The policy also seeks to encourage men to participate in their female partner’s pregnancy consultations. Moreover, according to the policy, the obstetrician who meets the couple is required to invite the man to do some tests, including tests for hepatitis B and C, HIV, and syphilis, as well as blood tests to detect the presence or absence of diabetes and verify levels of cholesterol.BRASIL.gov.br (Brazilian government website). <a href="http://www.brasil.gov.br/sobre/saude/saude-do-homem/pre-natal-masculino">"Pré-natal masculino"</a>. Retrieved 21 October 2012. Whilst the above policy initiatives all point towards a stronger commitment on the part of the Brazilian government towards gender equality and towards the inclusion of men in family planning and life, Brazil may appear to fall short of its commitments in regards to paternity leave, with laws that provide men with just five days of paid leave (paid through national social security taxes).Article 7 of the Brazilian Federal Constitution of 1988. See: Guia Trabalhista. <a href="http://www.guiatrabalhista.com.br/guia/ferias_licenca_paternidade.htm">"Férias e Licença-Paternidade" (Holidays and Paternity-leave)</a>. Retrieved 21 October 2012. Former amongst these are: Program H seeks to engage young men and their communities in critical reflections about rigid norms related to manhood. It includes group educational activities (see the Program H manual on activities with young men), Promundo. <a href="http://www.promundo.org.br/en/activities/activities-posts/program-h-manuals-download/">"Program H manual on activities with young men"</a>. Retrieved 19 October 2012. community campaigns, and an innovative evaluation model, the GEM scale (see above), for assessing the programme’s impact on gender-related attitudes. After participating in Program H activities, young men have reported a number of positive changes, from higher rates of condom use and improved relationships with friends and sexual partners to greater acceptance of domestic work as men’s responsibility and lower rates of sexual harassment and violence against women. In 2007, Program H was cited in "United (UNDP) report “<i>50 Jeitos Brasileiros de Mudar o Mundo</i>” (50 Brazilian Ways to Change the World)United Nations Development Program (UNDP) (2007). <a href="http://www.oei.es/oeivirt/50jeitos.pdf">"50 Jeitos Brasileiros de Mudar o Mundo"</a>. Retrieved 22 October 2012. and in a "United (UNICEF) report on the State of the World’s Children.United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) (2006). <a href="http://www.unicef.org/sowc07/docs/sowc07.pdf">"The State of the World’s Children 2007: Women and Children: The Double Dividend of Gender Equality"</a>. Retrieved 22 October 2012. In 2008, the UNFPA recognized Program H as an effective strategy for engaging young men in the promotion of sexual and reproductive health in its State of the Population Report. |