Empowering Boys with Skills for Healthy Manhood: An inclusive education strategy advancing the rights of girls and women

• In Event: Gender transformative education in practice

Proposal

The theme of "Power of Protest" at CIES 2024 (Comparative and International Education Society) focuses on the significance of social movements, activism, and collective action in bringing about positive change in the field of education and beyond. This theme highlights the impact of people coming together to voice their concerns, demand justice, and challenge the status quo to create a more equitable and inclusive society.

When discussing inclusive education and skills development for gender equity we frequent focus exclusively on empowering the girl child which tackles 50% of the possible solution. By focusing on the other 50%, the boy child, we create a stronger voice, a collaborative approach from early ages , and walk the journey with partnership and deeper community unification, at least in theory.
This paper analyzes the risk factors hidden behind adolescent boys’ behaviors towards peer girls, the necessary skills to shape healthy manhood and the eagerness to stand with their sisters. This paper is based on the last 10 years of gender transformational programming with a active boy-focused component. It will further suggest unique and effective gender transformative programs that can shift attitudes, create alliances and build the girls’ voices, particularly in the ‘last mile” rural African communities.

RELEVANCE: The importance of knowledge, skills, and allyship of young boys to advocate for their sisters, mothers, and female friends aligns well with the "Power of Protest" theme in several ways: Amplifying all Voices, collaboratively Breaking Gender Norms and partnering fro man early age to Building Stronger Movements while Shifting entrenched Cultural Paradigms for this upcoming generation. Encouraging allyship among young boys promotes the cultivation of empathy, respect, and understanding from an early age. These values can have a lasting impact on their attitudes and behaviors, leading to more equitable relationships and communities in the future.

THEORY / CONTEXT: : Recent studies show evidence that programs focused on men can change male behaviors and further help them become advocates for women (Kato-Wallace, Barker, Sharafi, Mora, & Lauro, 2016). Adolescence is recognized as a window of opportunity for offsetting childhood disadvantage and altering life trajectories. Emerging global evidence also suggests that adolescence (ages 10 - 19) is a key period when intimate partner violence initiates (Peitzmeier et al., 2016). Victimization of girls needs to be addressed with boys, especially by targeting adolescent boys before they develop fixed and negative attitudes that promote victimization of girls. This age group is critical because it is also associated with boys’ reproductive age (Sarnquist et al., 2017).

INQUIRY: Most implementation practices to reduce violence or equitable education are focused primarily on girls and women with boys/men as passive bystanders. Gender challenges are often discussed using an overly simplistic picture, where a man offends a woman, marginalizing men as bystanders instead of stakeholders. Men’s use of negative power and influence is also often considered a consequence of socially constructed masculinity, which can be reshaped.
This paper focuses on Positive asset-based learning and skill development for adolescent boys, alongside adolescent girls to begin shifting the lifelong trajectories toward positive healthy manhood attributes.

FINDINGS: The evidence presented is focused on over 10 years of evidence stemming from adolescent learning modules lessons, hands on project and side by side support between girls and boys, ages 10-15, in “safe space” settings, both in school and in community groups.

In Asante Africa Foundation, In the first year of a given club, all programming is girl-led and boy inclusive, typically 65%/35% girl-boy led, meaning the girls are able to strengthen their skills as leaders and the boys are included as a part of the programming. In a USAID funded evaluation focused on Transforming venerable girls into powerful entrepreneurial women, the allyship offered by their male counter parts significantly bolstered their confidence to take action and seek changes. Over the length of a program, both girls and boys developed increased confidence, having a personalized dream maps, understand body changes of both girls/boys, understand their rights and know how to seek help if in vulnerable situations. One of the more powerful pieces of evidence was the power of financial assets. The boys learned that if their sisters had small money, they became less vulnerable to older boys in the community. Collectively, clubs start saving groups as early as age 10-13, and several clubs start small incomes generating projects to ensure financial security as a group and as young individuals.

Statistical examples of success include; 95% of our youth responding that young women make equally good leaders as men and should have the same access represents a very positive generational and cultural change. In Tanzania, 72% of upper primary boys proactive supported their sisters by explaining to their fathers the need for support of monthly menstrual hygiene products. Over a 3-year evaluation, the active girl engagement in school both in attendance and academic performance improved as compared to programming that did not include the boys.

CONTRIBUTION: The purpose of this paper is to suggest how a gender transformative program design that actively engages boys as a part of the long term solution is an efficient gender inclusive program. This approach leverages the strengths; assets, of each child and their local communities and builds from a positive mental space of shifting socially-constructed gender definitions, with a keen focus on deeply rural East Africa, supported by credible evidence.
In summary, the relevance between the "Power of Protest" theme at CIES 2024 and the importance of allyship of young boys in advocating for their sisters, mothers, and female friends lies in their mutual pursuit of social justice, equity, and a more inclusive education system. By recognizing and challenging the barriers that hinder gender equality, these efforts can contribute to a more just and sustainable world for everyone.

Authors

• Erna Grasz, Asante Africa Foundation

• Gloria Richard Mushi, Asante Africa Foundation